Roller coasters are not my favorite thing to do. In fact, even the supposedly calm ones cause my stomach to tie up in knots and sit in my throat. I don’t think I qualify for adventurous ever!

I feel like I’ve been on the worlds biggest, longest never ending roller coaster over the last few months, as do most of you. The ever changing scenery of a global pandemic can make you feel like you are free falling.

It is how we choose to handle change and external pressures that really show us what we are made of. And I dare say we still have a much easier time of things than those who went through the Spanish Flu in the early 1900s.

While I truly have loved being at home with extra time with my kids, we dove in the deep end of crisis schooling. Even that had its large range of emotions attached to it. At first it was mostly fun and different, but as each week passed and it became evident school was not going to reopen, everyone deflated a little. Kids are social and they crave interaction with others, anyone right now, but especially other kids.

Churches closing their doors has truly has been something I could have never imagined would happen in America. Yet as I sat in a church today in Missouri visiting my husbands family, I truly wanted to weep with the beautiful sounds of live worship. Live streams, You Tube, Zoom calls have all been amazing tools to keep our hearts refreshed each week, but something about being in the church building, even with social distancing in place was a beautiful thing.

I think as we have moved through this time, I have gained a new perspective on what is important. I took so many things for granted. I wasn’t thankful for the liberty and freedoms we have in our country. I’ve never felt I had to pray for good to come to my table because it has geek available in abundance.

I learned that I can be flexible. Control isn’t a I hill to die on. I learned to bake. If the kids needed snacks, we made cookies, and cakes, and I even made bread from scratch.

Uncertainty can cause great distress. I’m so thankful we have a Rock to stand on in Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Now to remind myself of that every day as we all learn to live in this climate of constant change.