Dear ADRA Family,
I’m writing this on my small laptop, on a a small desk, in my small living room. It’s been three weeks since shelter-in-place orders changed the way we do life.
Instead of rubbing shoulders with the people I work with every day, I sit at my small desk and meet with them through phone calls and video chat. I don’t get to sit at my favorite coffee shop anymore with a good book and my husband and I do date night from our dining room table instead of at our favorite Mexican restaurant.
Life does not look the same today as it did three weeks ago.
2020 has definitely not been the year any of us expected. Birthday parties and weddings are cancelled, family reunions are postponed, exciting travel is no more. Instead, we’re in our homes, day after day, wondering when the end of this pandemic will come.
Some days, I find myself feeling a little discouraged. And then I think of Job.
Job was a man who had everything to lose… and he did. His house, his family, his job, his money. All gone. And at the end, he lost his health too. And Job was not silent about it. He warred with God, sharing his insecurities, disappointments, and hurt. He asked God questions, and asked God the question we all ask at one point or another. Why? Why does this happen? Why did I lose my job? Why did my family member get sick? Why God?
What fills me with hope is God’s response. He didn’t turn away from Job. He didn’t smite Job for asking the hard questions. Instead, God dialogued. He answered. Because like Job, I serve a God who wants to hear my prayers, in the good times and in the bad times. When I’m full of faith or when I’m full of doubt, my God can take it all.
And at the end of Job’s dialogue with God, he says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)
When I’m feeling discouraged; when I longingly look out my window and wonder when I’ll be able to freely walk through my neighborhood and greet my neighbors with a hug; when I feel financial insecurity—I turn to God and share my doubts with Him, because I serve a God who wants to listen in the good times, and in the not so good times.
May you find hope during this time in the knowledge that God is listening to your prayer, and that He is big enough to handle you in times when doubt may creep in.
Natalie Bruzon is a contractor for ADRA International. She lives in California with her husband, who serves as an associate pastor at their local church.
