Reflections of COVID-19
To be very honest, I haven’t had as much time to breathe as I have had for the past two weeks. I’m grateful to God that amidst this pandemic, my family and I are blessed to enjoy peace of mind and see a silver lining of more quality time at home, and My husband and I haven’t spent this much time at home EVER, that we are affectionately calling this partial lockdown a second honeymoon 💃🏽.
Considering I have not shared much on this blog in a while, I decided to give a glimpse of what life has been over the past year.
Let me just say, wifehood is a whole new experience that I didn’t see playing out this way. Before we got married, we had two counsellors, a whole lot of Myles Monroe movies, countless sermons, many relationship seminars, and a number of one-on-one mother-daughter moments to help me be adequately prepared for this season. Beloved reader, they weren’t enough! Lol! I really thank God for his guidance and grace to pull through this first phase of wifehood because I didn’t have a blueprint of being a pastor’s wife and church leader.
I come from a family of entrepreneurs and business minded men and women. My maiden family have seriously paved the way in the form of making impact in the corporate world. For that reason, I was privy to observe and understand the life of a business woman, home maker, and active church member by simply looking at my mom. Well, in my case, I fill completely different shoes; I’m a worker/part business owner, entrepreneur, church leader-in-training, church worker, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a wife, a pastor’s wife (yes, they are two different things), a friend, and a family member.
These are just some of the roles that come to me off the top of my head. We should never take our parents for granted for all they’ve done for us because adulating is no mean feat! Each of thee roles has its own set of responsibilities, and they play out in different ways; spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, psychologically, etc. I am bent on making God proud with everything He has stewarded me with, and I do not intend to slow down until I have a grip on the various responsibilities laid out for me.
Over the past year, there were so many times that I felt fatigued and unable to move forward – but I had my family (at Zion Impact Ministries) and my family (both Hagans and Neequayes) constantly there to pray with, help out and hold me up. I really cannot imagine what I would have done without any of them. I know God put them in my life for such a season as this, and I just want to give God a shout out for that!
This COVID-19 situation has forced the entire world to slow down and my household with it. I was so relieved after the first week of working home, that I was shocked at how relieved I was 😆 ; it is such a blessing to have a less than one minute “travel time” to work! On a usual working day, I set off from home at 5:30/6:00am in order to get past horrific traffic and make it to work by 8:30am. Of course, when I set of at 5:30am, arrival time at work would either be 6:45/7:15am depending on the day; but setting off later than 6:00am is a high risk of getting to work long after the approved arrival time.
Once I started working from home, I noticed that I didn’t have as much free time as I had thought, but it has allowed me to rest a lot more, pray a whole lot more and get some quality time with my Jesus. Before the lockdown, I had just gotten into a new job role that I had been understudying for about six months. Over this six months, I have had to take on a lot more responsibility than I had anticipated and it has been a learning curve and a necessary growing pain.
I don’t know when this lockdown will end, but I am going to use what is left of it to recoup for the marathon ahead. To all my family and friends who complain that we are never home, please do not forget this period in time when we went NOWHERE for two weeks. Let it be a testimony that will speak for us ahead of the times where we have sleepless nights in prayer at God’s feet for the sake of the body of Christ.
In the meantime, let me leave you with the following scripture: it has been meaningful to me in the moments when I was getting overwhelmed;
“Don’t be afraid for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” -Isaiah 41:10
In this season, one thing that I have learnt is this: if the God that trusted me with all these responsibilities has this scripture to say to me, there’s nothing I cannot conquer if I rely on Him.
I hope this blog post encourages someone!
Always remember, there’s more in God.