You know, it doesn’t take much to realize that, well, our SOCIETY now is totally in a state of ANXIETY, and it sure seems pretty logical, right????

Whether I am listening to the news (which I prefer in the morning — it’s less “impactful” to my sleep), or chatting on my phone, or shouting across the fence (literally, this happened with my neighbor yesterday), you can hear the anxiety ooze out of pretty much every word, sentence and conversation of almost every person. 

And “Come on, Carol, talk about a season of out-of-control!!!”

YES, COVID-19 has come, landed and totally flipped our world (literally, the whole world) upside down: no school, no work, no holidays, no hang-outs. YES, a complete and total “transformation” of our daily routine and lives is happening NOW, but a bigger than that question is THIS: What is coming NEXT???

Yes, that is really the underCURRENT underNEATH of all this CHAOS and CRISIS: everyone is guessing, second-guessing, and back-guessing just what might actually come along and into Cranbrook (my small, hometown community). Will we get hit with ANY COVID cases? Will we get hit hard with MANY COVID cases? Will we get crushed economically with losses of MANY jobs? Will kids get ANY school in 2 months, or ever at all? And if not, just how will they keep on top of their education???

Questions, questions, questions — and all the answers are… UNKNOWN. That’s right, as much as we can talk, talk, and talk about what “might” happen, what is “predicted” and what is “planned” to happen, we, all of us, really don’t know what WILL happen, and so… here we sit with the “seed of anxiety” in our hearts, and we do a solid slip into FEAR: sliding down this “season of sickness” into the season of the UNKNOWN.

Think about it: the things that bring us anxiety are the ones that we have no idea what will happen NEXT (despite our best efforts to control them). True, yes????

So, what’s a girl gonna do in a “season of sickness” like this? Well, hear me through, please, because I am a little “luckier” than most due to the fact that this “season” isn’t completely unknown to me.

Yup, go back to 2009, when that nasty, scary H1N1 came through Canada and Cranbrook, and right into the Conroys’ home — directly to my husband’s HEALTH: four heart attacks, bilateral bacterial pneumonia, complete negative isolation chamber, living off life support in Calgary and a quick command from ICU to have family come to say goodbye while his whole body turned bright red and his fingernails fell off.

Hmm, not fun, not good, not great times for sure, but why bring this up now? What does it mean for US during COVID-19????

Well, I do remember back then, listening to what the doctors had to say about what MIGHT happen to him. And being a nurse, I knew fully what those beeps, blips and barometers really meant: Big, BAD news.

And I knew I had a choice: to follow all the terrible “rabbit trails” of potential outcomes, or stick with the facts of “Darin’s Daily Vital Signs” each new day and CHOOSE to say: 

“TODAY he has life.” 

“TODAY he has a pulse.” 

“TODAY he has breath.”

And with each breath, believe and choose to try to live only day to day, and not letting my mind wander too far down the “WHY us??” and “What IF?” of the UNKNOWN tomorrow, but attempt to stay grounded in the “What IS” and “What FOR” found in READING GOD’S WORD today.

It surely kept me and my anxiety, about the very real unknown, slowed down, settled in faith-facts, and truly resulted in ME being stepped deeper in belief… than ever before. 

BUT, this isn’t easy; for sure I get it!! And hey, even the APOSTLES in the Bible reacted to “unknown factors” with ANXIETY. Like whenever they saw ANGELS (which, P.S., are actually GOOD things) they all reacted with fear, trembling and anxiety.

So, go ahead, breathe and be human for a bit. But then, even in this crazy time of crazy CHANGE, maybe take up a NEW CHOICE.

And maybe, just maybe, base it on a BIGGER, BETTER TRUTH: not just based on the story I am sharing with YOU today, but what GOD’S WORD has to SAY. Because the TRUTH of it is He REALLY is the REAL refuge, the REAL rock, the REAL strength and the REAL stronghold. (Check out Psalms 31: 1-3, Psalms 32:6-8.)

So, GO and CHOOSE to seek shelter in the ONE spot that doesn’t ever CHANGE — no matter what COVID can try to bring. Remember, we are ALL in these CHOICES together. 

Be Bold, Be Brave, Be a Beautiful Woman of GOD!

Carol 😉

P.S. Talking about ANXIETY is honestly one of my number one things to do! And I really think GOD has some awesome suggestions and solutions to it. Would love to chat with YOU about it sometime — So, shoot me a text and let’s begin to chat!