In the midst of a pandemic, a slight cough can send some of us panicking.
Sadly, I have found myself in that boat, not with much fear for myself, but fear for the health of others. Maybe that sounds heroic and honorable to you, but in the end, my fear for others or for myself, came down to a bad case of unbelief.
Before I go on, let me clarify something. I am in no way supporting those who have decided wearing a mask is foolhardy, physical distancing is made up, and covid is a conspiracy. God both empowers us to believe He can while also commanding us to care about others more than ourself.
Whether or not this virus is blown out of proportion, makes no difference to me. If my wearing a mask or physically distancing might save even one person’s life, Jesus calls me to it.
Now, back to the point of this post. What do I mean by my having a bad case of unbelief?
I have grown in my faith and belief this year more than ever. However, I know I should never consider myself to have won the prize yet, I must keep on running the race, understand I am a sinner, and fix my eyes on Jesus.
So, when I was planning to visit my parents in Colorado and found myself feeling sick a week before, unbelief set in.
What if I have covid? What if I don’t get to go? What if I get my parents or others sick?
What ifs can be fine, but my what ifs were not faith filled. I certainly had taken all precautions necessary to prevent covid, but I continued to believe the worst. I had quarantined myself, I was taking medicine, checking my fever often, I had gotten tested for covid, and I prayed for God to guide the situation, whichever way it may go.
What I did not do was silence my fears and anxieties with the what ifs of faith.
To really convict me, I wrote this particular post down in my journal while sitting in the airport, covid free, fever free for days, and reading my morning devotional. I read this from A. W. Tozer:
“The question that desperately needs to be answered is, how does faith differ from unbelief?
The difference is simply that faith says, ‘If some other time, then why not now?’…’why not here?’…’why not me?’
Faith takes ‘I’ out of the equation and brings God back to the center. If God said it, then it must be true, and if it’s true, then it’s true now, and if it’s true for someone else, it’s also true for me.”
You see, my what ifs started and ended in unbelief. Yet faith would have transformed those what ifs into, “What if I do not have covid?”, “What if I go to Colorado?”, “What if no one gets sick?”, not because I am more blessed or I deserve health or bad things never happen to me, but because God can and He never changes.
Fortunately, there is a cure, a prayer, I can say in response to a bad case of unbelief, and that is “Help me in my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

Leave a reply to Jessica P. Mills Cancel reply