Corona Diaries: Hoping in the Dark

School starts this week.

I'm anxious, and at the same, relieved because my daughter's chosen to do a many of her classes virtually. Still, my mind chatters that all it takes is one hour, one moment, one exposure to start a potentially deadly domino fall.

There's so much, mom. Like, I don't understand why we need to be face-to-face. Like, why are they forcing this to happen?

I went off on a well-informed, frustrated tangent...in my head. She didn't need to hear that, and frankly I didn't need to hear myself say it. So I dug deep into what I believed and what I knew and what I felt.

You know what? I'm not gonna lie: I am anxious. Thing is, I honestly believe that God is gonna do something big this school year. Like, beyond what you can even imagine. Seriously.

She looked at me like I had grown a third head.

No seriously. This school year, this whole situation -- everything is like we're walking into pitch black darkness. We don't know what's in front of us or what's going to change or if it's gonna change or when it'll change. It's dark. DARK dark.

She nodded blankly.

You ever notice that God always does His best work in the dark? Think about it: the earth was without form or void, and darkness covered the land. Then it says something about God having to separate light from dark, water from land.' It was utter chaos.

She leaned in.

Isn't chaos what is now? But then God did something as simple as SPEAK an ordered earth into existence. Remember when you were juggling friends and school stress and feeling overwhelmed last year? 

She nodded.

It felt dark, didn't it? But remember what happened? Out of the blue, you got called to facilitate a workshop in Austin.

She was listening.

All while the friend thing and school stuff was swirling, you were doing the work in what felt like the dark. In chaos. But I believe God was working on that opportunity for you even though all you wanted was a flashlight. 

He was working in the pitch black darkness of your chaos and gifted you with something that wasn't even on the radar. And that's what I believe is going on right now, kiddo.

The unknown and the darkness sucks. We're gonna bump into things, but I know that God does His best work in the darkness. So I'm going to expectantly wait to see what big thing He's going to reveal.

And I'll do it while wearing a mask and social distancing while having my hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes at the ready.

Lunar Eclipse...just another spectacular thing revealed by darkness.