And such a year, which began early with a gift from China: a very contagious plague! No thank-you note for this one! I live with my daughter Joyce, who is a NICU nurse at Inspira. NICU nurses do not only take care of babies in the NICU. They also go to deliveries, interact with parents, doctors and other nurses and are very exposed to whatever is going around. So she was of course concerned with what she might bring home to me, because I check every box in the list of who is most susceptible; I’m over-weight; I have a pace-maker; I have COPD with 24/7 oxygen (a real pain in the neck). And I am 89. My kids decided that I would be safer if I went out to Ohio to stay with my single son for at least a few weeks. So I did, and was there from early March until late May. I dearly love all my kids, and I loved being with him, but I really missed my life here in Pittsgrove, and all my friends at church. And I found that being quarantined became depressing.
In the Our Daily Bread devotional book, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, author Dennis J. Dehaan wrote of an old legend that tells of an angel who was sent by God to inform Satan that all his methods to defeat Christians would be taken from him. The devil pleaded to keep just one. “Let me retain depression,” he begged. The angel, thinking this a small request, agreed. “Good!” Satan exclaimed. He laughed and said, “In that one gift, I have secured all.”
So he got me, and I surely struggled with this destructive emotion. I found so many things I wanted to do, that I couldn’t do. I saw things that others did, but because of my quarantine status, they were closed to me. I was not happy. I certainly agreed that as far as Covid-19 was concerned, the cure very truly could be worse than the disease.
But God (two of my favorite words in the Bible) didn’t leave me there. I asked Him to make me, and others in my condition, too, strongly feel His love and guidance for us all. And His Spirit kept reminding me to stop feeling sorry for myself and to think of and pray for others who might well be in a far worse state than mine!
I am still mostly quarantined. But I’ve laid it all at Jesus’ feet, as He told me to do. I trust my Savior. I only want His plan for me. And that does not include being captured by depression. That is not my natural disposition at all! But I found that even Pollyanna types like me may sometimes need an attitude adjustment. I did, and I got one!
— Norma Stockton
*Please be advised that this blog represents the views, opinions and beliefs of the writer and does not necessarily reflect those of our church leadership or denominational affiliation.