Category: anxiety

A Poem for Thought

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Read Time 3 Minutes

Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? As we enter into our second year of Covid-19, some believe the vaccine is the light. However, the rollout of the vaccine has not been without many challenges and many changing predictions of facts, immunity, and about the road back to a working productive society.

All of this leaves Americans with an array of feelings, and still many people are on opposite ends of the spectrum on how our country should be handling all the issues that it faces today.

As Christians, we can struggle with how to deal with the troubles in our country especially if we don’t agree with some of our leaders. We have hope though, and it is a hope much mightier than a vaccine and much mightier than what individuals hold the offices of President, governors, and other leaders.

God does give us instructions on submitting to governing authorities (Romans 13:1-2 ; 1 Peter 2:13-17), and He also lets us know that He is King of Kings who has already overcome the world…hence, our peace and our victory for eternity (John 16:33)!

“The Lord sat enthroned at the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned, King forever.” Psalm 29:10

“God will bring this about in His own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of kings,
and the Lord of lords,…” 1 Timothy 5:15

I am thankful that we still have freedom of speech in our country and that we can use that freedom to speak out about our feelings and injustices. While I usually use my blog to offer uplifting encouragement, today, I want to share a poem that was laid on my heart. It is a poem that speaks about problems that I believe are being mostly ignored in our country. As I quoted above, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” While I fully believe that Covid-19 is a terrible virus and has caused harm and loss to many families, I feel that our leaders should be addressing all the harm and losses from the fallout of the decisions made to combat the virus itself. I have much empathy for families who have lost loved ones to this sickness and much admiration for doctors, nurses, and all who are doing their part to fight the virus. With that said, I share a poem that cries out for some attention to other matters that are destroying lives across our country as well.

A Bigger Beast

Covid-19 is a horrible beast,
stealing lives across our country, across our world!
I believe, though, that there is a bigger beast…a deplorable beast stealing even more lives in a slow and degenerating way!
It is the beast created by the hyper-focus on this virus, the beast of media, “experts”, and politics!
This beast steals in a slow and silent way.
It steals peace
It steals security
It steals education, jobs, and businesses!
It steals economy
It steals the now and the future
It steals family time and celebrations.
It steals the ability to have a loved one with you in the hospital,
even at death’s moment itself!
It steals togetherness
It steals the smile on a face,
It steals emotional, mental, and physical well-being.
It steals fresh air
And the ability to share a meal with friends.
It steals freedoms a little at a time!
It steals a church’s congregation, community service, and visits with the elderly.

It is a beast that suffocates, that does kill,
That slowly steals a life by making it lifeless.
It steals patriotism
It steals a country!
It steals truth!

In the place of the treasures that it steals,
it gifts society with fear and dismay.
It creates distress, disfunction, and division!
It encourages isolation, depression, and loneliness!
It tells you that you are the enemy if you don’t agree,
That you are bad,
That you do not care for others!
It manipulates,
It lies!
It wants control!
This is the bigger of the two beasts!

By
Robin Bauer-Funderburk
01-21-21

Our country and our leaders need constant and fervent prayer for all the coming days and decisions that need to be made. May they seek God for wisdom and guidance. May we each show neighborly love to one another everyday for these are certainly tough times. May God be glorified by Americans seeking Him in revived passionate ways! And may we keep looking up to the One who has overcome the world!

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8

Marking Time

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. Ecclesiastes 5:18

Read Time 5 Minutes

As 2020 draws to a close, I find myself like many Americans wanting to check off another day, and get this year concluded! Weary is how this year has left me, and I have often felt myself succumb to the feeling of just “marking time”. It has been a struggle to overcome this attitude in light of all the events that have unfolded this year!

Covid-19 with it’s deaths, sicknesses, and all the politicalisms that are attached to this virus have worn our spirits thin. Businesses closing, jobs lost, school children learning in isolation, depression, suicides, and a huge lack of trust in leaders are additional results of this pandemic. People have felt alone in hospitals without family being allowed to visit. Assisted living facilities have been on lock-down. Weddings and other celebrations have been whittled down to the bear minimum. Add to that a divided country, riots, and a crazy election, and you have many great big reasons to leave this year behind!

The struggle this year has been personal. My husband and I had just made a major move a couple of months prior to the onset of 2020. We moved from Texas to Washington far away from family and friends and all the familiarity that came from having lived in Texas for 47 years of my life. We moved because God led my husband to pastor a small church in Bremerton, WA. I retired from 28 years of teaching and started my own personal training business. We came with the excitement of God’s plans for us and the enjoyment of getting to make new friends. Still, we knew that any big move or change has its challenges. These changes along with the combination of all the events during this historic year have certainly tested my endurance. Church services had to go to online for a time period and continue to be altered. My business has for the most part been shut down by the pandemic. Quite honestly, this year has been testing the daily “trusting God” part of my faith as I wrestle with a variety of feelings each day.

Over the years I have had a good share of difficult times in my life that have grown my faith. I’ve experienced tragic death, unexpected divorce, rejection and deception, and major medical trauma. Through these trials, I was able to learn first hand how God gets me through every trial and works all things for my good. I have grown deeper in my walk with Him through these experiences and hardships. I have learned to know great sorrow, but also have JOY as I walk hand in hand with God navigating troubled times. I’ve learned to believe and trust that no matter what comes my way, God will sustain me. However, even with all I have experienced and learned, God does not seem to be finished refining my faith. I’ve asked God this year, “Why after all I’ve been through and all I have learned and know about Your all sufficiency, do I struggle with anxiety and other emotions in 2020?” I think this year, He has shown me that He wants me to rely on Him even more every moment of the day! He is not just for the major trials that knock us off our feet. His strength is for every aspect of our day in order to conquer the enemies of anxiety, fear, self-pity, and isolation. He wants to take me into an even deeper walk with him. For this, I am thankful. God loves me so much that He keeps growing me and drawing me closer to Him!

“Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4

I think what I have felt this year, many others have felt as well… “Let me just check off another day and move on”. I know that God has been telling me not to have this attitude and to not let the negative feelings have any control over me. I think what God is teaching me through 2020 is not to just MARK TIME when I feel overwhelmed with wrong feelings, or I feel disenchanted. He wants me to live each day to the fullest making the most of every moment that He gives me. Each day He gives me is not a mistake, it is a gift!

The following verses reveal that we are certainly not meant to “mark time” with the days that God gives us. These verses are a dose of good medicine for me, and maybe they can help you as well to finish out 2020 victoriously through Him (Philippians 4:13) making the most of every day!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
 think about Him in all your ways,
and He will guide you on the right paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16

“Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,  accepting one another and forgiving one another…” Colossians 3:12-13 

“The Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most temporal part of time–for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.”
― C.S. Lewis, quote from The Screwtape Letters

Who knows what 2021 will have to offer, but with God on our side (Psalm 118:6), we can make every day count! There is much to accomplish in the work God has given each of us, moments to show care towards others, and time to love God with all of our heart and spend time with Him every day. I want to finish out this year having learned better how to make all moments count and not just check off another day. Hopefully, by sharing my struggle this year, I have used my time today well and offered some encouragement that might help you too! Keep looking up!

“This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Interrupted!

Fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

Read Time 4 Minutes

In the past few weeks all of our lives across the United States as well as most of the world have been interrupted by Covid-19. Even if we have not personally contracted the virus and hopefully will not, we are all effected by the quarantined environment we are living in daily. Grocery store shelves are empty of basic needs, restaurants, businesses. schools, and churches are closed for now, and new vocabulary and guidelines are developing such as “social distancing” and “working remotely”. It is certainly an unsettling time and pushes our minds to think of scenarios we are not used to thinking about here in America.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ” Luke 12: 22-23

I find myself thinking each day as I eat a meal prepared at home, how thankful I am for that food on my table! Although, I have always been thankful to God for provisions, it is much more heightened in light of the growing reality that even in America our abundant lives we have become so accustomed to can be interrupted!

As a Christian we can draw on the truths of God’s promises to supply all of our needs and to be our stronghold through uncertain times. However, if you are like me…even when we know these truths, we can find ourselves allowing anxious thoughts to creep into our minds. We fear things our minds imagine that goes beyond the reality. These fears are fed, of course, by all the panic and media coverage going on all around us. The struggle is real to choose the way God wants us to think. We often live in our own strength that wants to feed on fear and anxiety which is not of God. This reminds me that even the Apostle Paul struggled with being pulled in this way. He tells us in Romans 7:15, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Paul struggled like we do, but he also learned the secret to doing life and living above fear! He shares in Philippians 4: 12-13, “I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.  I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

In the last few weeks, our lives have drastically been interrupted by Covid-19! It helps me to remember that if we purposefully set our mind on the truths and promises from God’s word, we can begin to realize that He does supply all of our needs. However, those needs may not be what we are used to thinking we need. If everything were stripped away from us, God would still give us what we need to endure all things. He will give us strength and peace for whatever circumstances He allows us to encounter. If you really think about it, HE IS ALL WE NEED! Paul showed us that by praying and singing hymns to God even when he had been beaten and thrown in prison (Acts 16).

Maybe this interruption can be looked at positively as a time to draw near to God in a new and deeper way! A time to praise Him, love others more expressively, and shine a light on a world that needs Him desperately!

When fear and anxiety begins to set in, it helps me to remember to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17.

Remote Exercise

A result for me from the corona-virus outbreak has been the closure of the YMCA where I had just begun building up my clientele. I am thankful that I have been able to put a spin on the remote work environment. Instead of holding training sessions with clients indoors, we have moved outdoors, and I am able to still meet their needs by holding personal training sessions at a local park. We have been using stairs, paths, piers, park benches, and rails to aid us in getting a good physical workout. Not only is it helping each person to stay fit in body, but I believe it is helping them and myself to stay fit in spirit too! The outdoors is refreshing and rejuvenating…a place where you can marvel at God and let Him wash peace and tranquility over you!

I encourage you to take advantage during this restricted time to get outdoors where there is plenty of space to social distance while getting a good workout for your body and soul! Walk at a quick pace along paths, jog up and down stairs, use a park bench to do inclined push-ups and tricep dips. There are many cardio and strength training exercises that can be done with very little equipment. Get creative, get outside, and get moving to beat the Covid-19 blues!