Optimist Roundtable
By Martha Sykes
This past weekend marked two years since all of our lives have been changed by Covid. As we reflect back on what all has happened to us during this time of uncertainty, doubt, fear at times, or frustration, our faith reminds us as we look back at God has been so faithful to us and has been by our side throughout this whole pandemic.
During this time, our faith has mattered as we struggled with what was going on around us.
In my first class on my journey to become a lay speaker, the leader asked us to write about what we believe. Do you ever stop to think about what you truly believe in? In the book of John, the word “believe” is mentioned a lot as Jesus goes about teaching and preaching. As we go through our different stages in life, it matters a great deal about what we truly believe. John 3:16, as we all know, is a verse that many of us have memorized over the years and reminds us that if we believe in Jesus that we will have eternal life.
We often have read that if we believe, then all things are possible. As we have lived out these last couple years, if we do believe, then we know that it is our faith that has gotten us to this point. It was all about our trust that God will carry us through every storm.
In reality, we know there have been many loved ones lost through this pandemic. We have watched people in the medical field work so hard to keep people alive and have risked their own lives in that process. We have trusted in the vaccines to keep us going. Our schools have been through so much trying to keep the educational system moving forward. Wearing masks and self-distancing has been a whole new world for us. It will be a time in our lives that we will never forget, but as we come back to a somewhat normal way of living, we can only be grateful for God’s presence and His strength as we have made it this far. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us and now we can say thank you for walking beside us every step of this pandemic. We know it is still around us but not as prevalent. Let us hope that it continues to go away!!
No matter what, our prayers, our faith and our belief in Jesus is what holds us together and gives us that rock to lean on in times of trouble. Keep trusting and keep believing!!
