Z end

Today is the last day of this year's A to Z challenge.  Every year that I have done this, I get to the end and while I am excited to be through the entire alphabet, I'm also a little sad and to be perfectly honest, a bit tired.  This challenge certainly requires perseverance and diligence.  Without it, I think you would give up at about the letter G.

So here we sit at Z.  The end of the alphabet.  And as I sit and ponder the end, I can't help but think about how a lot of our quarantines are opening back up and ending slowly.  I've seen a lot of posts about people being anxious about the world opening up again amongst the covid-19 fears.  And so, I just feel led this last day of this challenge to remind all of us, God is still in this with us.  There is no end with God.

As I have said all throughout this challenge, God is in the details.  God is never surprised.  God is always constant.  God is always on His throne.  Nothing in this world gets past God.  And nothing can derail God's plans.  Furthermore, God uses all things for our good to grow us, mold us, and turn our eyes to Him.

God tells us in Isaiah 43:2-3 HCSB, "I will be with you when you pass through the waters...when you walk through the fire...the flame will not burn you.  For I the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior."  God is always with us and we are always loved.  So because God is with us and we begin to end these stay at home orders, we do not need to fear.  Mind you, I'm most certainly NOT telling you to go running around town as if we are free to be you and me.  Not at all!  But through the worry and fear we all have of stepping back out into the world, we need to ultimately place our trust and faith in God to continue to walk with each of us as we navigate this new normal.

I read somewhere in one of my devotionals, "Faith in God is the antidote to worry.  Faith in God is the foundation of courage and the source of power".  Through our faith in God, we do not have to have fear and we can be confident in God's abilities.  We are all struggling with our next steps and what we should do.  How we can continue to protect our families and ourselves, But God.  God must be at the center of our focus so that we don't allow worry and anxiety to take over.  We can trust God to keep us safe, recharge our economy and be with our leaders as they make difficult decisions.

Each of us has sustained some sort of loss during this covid-19 world.  Each of us has been dealt

difficult cards in life.  But each of has the opportunity to allow the world to see what living in faith in God looks like.  This is a divine opportunity for every Christian to live out their faith for the world and their families to see.  This is an opportunity for each of us to continue to give thanks to God for His constant love, grace, mercy and the courage He infuses within us.

God is right there with each of you.  He's not over yonder but right there with you.  Never leaving your side.  Elisabeth Elliot once said, "We are meddling with God's business when we let all manner of imaginings loose, predicting disaster, contemplating possibilities instead of following, one day at a time, God's plain and simple pathway."

Friends, as we continue to walk this path of covid-19, I pray that you will let go and let God lead.  I pray that each of you would feel the peace that God provides as you decide what is best for your families and each of you.  I pray that if you don't know the peace that God can give you that you would pray right now to God for that peace.  I pray that as our economy begins to open back up that any of you that have lost jobs would once again find financial success.  And as I end this challenge with this final blog, I want to leave you with my most favorite verse in the Bible.  This is my life verse that I cling to whenever my world feels shaken or upside down.  This is my verse that I have written all over my home and my heart. 

"So do not fear, for I am with you; 

do not dismayed, for I am your God. 

 I will strengthen you and help you;

 I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  

Isaiah 41:10 NIV

I want to thank all of you who have followed me throughout these last few weeks reading what God has put on my heart.  I hope that the words I wrote have been able to uplift you, strengthen you and encourage you.  I pray most of all that my words were from God's lips and not of my own.  Thank you for another successful A to Z challenge.  Until we meet again...Z is the end.  Be blessed and stay well.