Wow! All I can say a lot can happen in 2 months. Literally. The whole world has changed. The Corona virus has had an impact on most of the world in one way or another. First of all, my prayers go out to anyone who has the virus, I pray for healing. To anyone who lost their lives, I pray for comfort for their families. I truly believe with all my heart that this too shall pass. All I can say is this has shaken the world in a way, that nothing in my lifetime has done before. I’m a teacher, and a mom of 3, and as of now there will be no school until April 15th or even later. My kids are home, and we are making the best of it. One word keeps coming to my mind. “Build” Those of us that do not have the virus or those of us who aren’t taking care of someone that has the virus, have found that we have a lot more time on our hands. If of course, you are not working like many doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, delivery people, etc. The question is what are we doing with this time? Well, one word keeps coming to mind. “Build” I posted about this briefly, but will talk about it more.

In my opinion, there are a few ways to build during this time. One way is to spend more time on your talent. Think about one thing you love to do, something you did even when you were a little kid. Yo Gabba Gabba said it best, “Your talent is something you love to do, and something you’re good at.” Well, I love to write. I’ve been writing ever since I was a little girl. It’s something I’d do for free and something that truly brings me peace. One way to make the best of this time is to build on your talents. I find when we pursue our talents we find purpose, and somehow how using our talents has a way of blessing or motivating others. Some people might have goals during this time of running or working out which I believe are talents as well. Whatever you think your talent is work on building it during this time. Intentionally spend some time during the day doing something that you love, I believe that is a great way to make the time pass in a productive way.

Another way to build during this time is to focus on those areas in your life that you’ve tried to change for years, and you just haven’t had much success. Now this part might not apply to everyone, but it definitely applies to me. For years, I start and stop, and start and stop, and start and stop a few things. Waking up at 5 am, running, self-care, exercising with my daughter, eating healthier, sticking to a schedule and being organized are all areas that I’ve struggled with for years. God still chooses to use me, despite my shortcomings, and I’m thankful. However, these are areas that I can focus more energy on, since I have more time. The secret of doing all of this is sticking to a schedule. Today is Day 1. (I’ve had many of those…lol :)) This world tells us we can do anything we put our minds to. Well, that hasn’t been working for me much. (It definitely works for some people, but it doesn’t work for me.) I’ve tried it. For me I realize in my own strength, I am very weak and can’t do much. However, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This morning it was on my heart to go in the backyard, and speak to the mountains in my life, to actually open my mouth and speak to them. Fatigue doesn’t belong in my body so I spoke to that mountain. I’ve been to the doctors a few times, and nothing comes up. I asked for prayer yesterday, and I believe at this point I need to war in the spirit and in prayer for deliverance in that area. I prayed for my marriage, my husband, my kids, I prayed for the world. We need to rise up, and go to war in prayer with the things on our heart. I’ve been through a lot man. Somethings I just don’t share (yet) However, I know that for me, no other name, but the name of Jesus has brought me through my lowest lows. My relationship with the Lord has brought me peace in the midst of chaos, restored my marriage, healed my hurts, healed my body, healed my children, provided a way when there was no way, rescued us and so much more. I can go on and on, but with this extra time my encouragement to you is try working on areas that have kicked your butt in the past, and let those things know you fight from victory not for victory so you’ve already won! Now is just the time for the manifestation.

I don’t know about you, but our finances have been impacted. James will not be getting paid during this time. (He’s looking into online jobs, and even has an interview so we are hopeful.) As of now, thankfully, teachers will get paid. My brother and my mom were hit hard, because of this, but that’s their story to tell. One thing that brought me peace in regards to our finances, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” It doesn’t say our next day bread, our weekly bread, monthly, or yearly bread, it says daily. I was at Aldi’s and a lady seemed panicked. She asked one of the store associates if they can hold the toilet paper for her, because she had an appointment, and the line wasn’t moving. You can see the associate was trying to be nice, but looked like she was under pressure. The associate said, every day we get new deliveries so there will be some tomorrow. (However, she did end up holding it for her as well.) That reminded me of the story in the Bible, I don’t know it exactly. However, I believe the Israelites were exiting Egypt, and they were complaining because they were hungry. God poured down manna from heaven for them to eat. There was enough for each day. Those that tried to take more and save it, the manna would rot. There was just enough for the day. So my encouragement to those of us that have been hit by the financial impact that the Corona Virus has on many of us, is that we just need to focus on today. We have enough food for today. We have a roof over our head today. That brings me peace, knowing that God gives us what we need for today our, “daily bread.” I say all that to say during this time, we can work on building our trust in God.

Lastly, this is a great time to build a relationship with the Lord. If you’ve known Jesus for years, or even if you don’t believe in Jesus, it’s a great time to learn more and find out who He is, if that’s ever been something on your heart. For me, I wake up and I write in my prayer journal, then I read one page in the Bible. After that I meditate for about 5-10 minutes. I set my alarm, because I overthink…lol 🙂 Whatever thoughts come to me during that time, I write it down. What I’ve found for me, is that I haven’t heard the audible voice of the Lord, but God is still speaking today through His word. Today I read Colossians 4:17- “See to it that you complete the work that you received in the Lord.” Yes, in the Bible it didn’t say, “Leneen see to it that you complete the work that you have received in the Lord.” However, I took those words to heart, and it spoke to me. It’s what encouraged me to finally write this post about building during this difficult time. There’s so much more we can build, if we are one of those people that have more time on our hands due to everything going on. Building relationships with our families, friends, and loved ones are also something great to build during this time. I hope that whatever we choose to build now, will last even after this storm, known as the Corona virus passes. (Today, I finally ran. Saw a baby sparrow, and that will be my next post, but there was A LOT I learned from that experience, and I will share that in my next post.) The purpose of me writing today is to encourage someone to use this extra time in a productive way, and build on an area in your life that you would like to see improved. Hopefully, this was a blessing to someone, somehow <3 God Bless!