Does the COVID-19 Pandemic have a silver lining?

These past few weeks have been surreal as I read and watch the news and hear of so many lives lost to this virus -over 56,000 worldwide at the time of this post, with over a million people counted positive with the virus. And the many more who are affected by it through battling sickness or job loss, lost or missed opportunities and domestic violence being on the rise.

There is so much stress, uncertainty and fear in the world. It would be easy for someone who doesn't have something to place hope in to be discouraged and feel lost during this global struggle. We are living through unprecedented times right now.

I am choosing to see the silver lining in all this though. I mean, sure, my experience with the effects of COVID-19 is minimal at this point. I only personally know one person who has tested positive. The main hardship it has caused me and my family thus far is that my 4 kids are all home for distance learning during the weekdays, and my husband just set up to work from home.

It's definitely a struggle to rearrange my schedule to be able to organize learning for them and to make sure we have enough devices to provide for online schooling. Not to mention the difficulty of trying to continue working from home and actually being productive. I'm working all morning just making sure they keep busy so they don't destroy the house or turn into screen time vegetables. I'm sure you other parents going through this distance learning can relate!

Things are staying on my TO DO list a bit longer these days. I feel very blessed that my husband's job and our family's income hasn't been affected by the downturn in the economy...yet. So of course I'm not living in fear or desperation. I know there are many, many people around the world with much harder situations than me right now and my heart and prayers and positive vibes go out to each and every one of them. 💕

But I feel like I DO have something... several things, to place hope in and so even if some of these hardships befall my family, I feel I am mentally and emotionally prepared to face them full of faith and hope that I will be able to pull something good from whatever might happen to me or my family.

What brings hope when life gets challenging?

Hardship is good for us!

I deeply believe there is good in everything and we can choose our mindset - LOOKING FOR that good and positive. One of those could be what we learn from the challenge. I believe God allows many things to happen for a reason, often to help us grow and develop. Knowing that difficult experiences will benefit me makes them easier to face.

Plus, God provides compensatory blessings!

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"Find the compensatory blessings in your life when, in the wisdom of the Lord, He deprives you of something you very much want. To the sightless or hearing impaired, He sharpens the other senses. To the ill, He gives patience, understanding, and increased appreciation for others’ kindness. With the loss of a dear one, He deepens the bonds of love, enriches memories, and kindles hope in a future reunion. You will discover compensatory blessings when you willingly accept the will of the Lord and exercise faith in Him."      -Richard G Scott

-I have had some great compensatory blessings during social distancing.

✔ We've had increased, undivided family time. There's something about going weeks without playing with friends that has strengthened sibling relationships.

✔ Extra time to hone in on skills & learn new ones.

> My 9 year old son decided he wanted to learn how to edit videos. I had some interest as well, so we learned video editing together. He has been editing and posting YouTube videos on a newly created channel we manage together throughout his distance learning extra time since school only takes 2 hours a day now.

✔ We've always hoped my husband could work from home to save time from his commute.

Good people's choices can produce miracles

I am blown away by the incredible experiences and comments outlining blessings that are showing up all over the web and within conversations I've been having with people as the entire world shares in the COVID-19 Pandemic experience. My soul has been filled with hope by the wonderful people I am blessed to interact with. I participated in a large scale fast, coupled with prayer in the last week of March, and joined in on a worldwide fast on Good Friday. I can't wait to see the miracles that unfold due to the combined faith of millions of people!

Meditation and Prayer

Be still for a time each day- meditate, pray. Make time to listen to what God might be wanting us to learn or do.

One of my mentors mentioned,

 “This is the only time in my life where God has completely cleared my schedule... we need to pay attention to what he’s trying to teach us. What does He need me to be doing? To be spending my time on?” 

Blessings will come of this COVID-19 experience. Even...no- especially if they come in hard ways. What has your experience been❓

Comment Below ⬇

What compensatory blessings or silver linings are you seeing from this social distancing or other aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic?