2020: The year of vision. The year of seeing perfectly. The year of the ‘reset’. The year of Covid-19, pandemic, social distancing, hand washing, ‘unprecedented times’, unimaginable deaths, Zoom, face masks, lockdown, cancellations, track & trace….and vaccine...Phew! So many new things. So many ‘new’ restrictions and so many ways of living and communicating.  So many ways of having to be ‘normal’.
 
Over the past 11 months, every one of us has faced a storm, in one way or the other, from home schooling, home working, furloughing, job loss, shielding, key working, bereavement… we have all faced something…. Something which we would never have experienced before; something which changed our life and our future… Something we never knew was coming….2020… Coronavirus!
 
For many of us, we had to learn to stop, to take stock…. Suddenly the world was under attack!  A silent, but deadly killer was in our midst!  Believers were seeking and asking God, what was happening, and what this all meant. We were, and still are, learning to be silent in the storm. To seek God, for ourselves and our families, our nation, the world and our very lives. To ask God, "where are you?".
 
I don't know about you, but I found the silence deafening at times.  I needed and wanted to hear God, needed to know exactly what was happening and what to do!  But I needed, like many, to be still, to be silent, to stop talking and shut out external distractions. To just sit and be quiet and to let the thoughts and obstructions of my mind settle, so that I could hear what the Lord was trying to say to me….and I tell you, it wasn't always easy. However,11 months on, and I am much better able to ‘sit in silence’ to hear God.
 
Now ‘sitting in silence’ may not necessarily be literal.  It could mean for instance, a break for an hour or two from social media, online shopping, Netflix, work, and all the things we deem as important and saying, Lord, I am coming to meet with you, in silence, at this time, in this storm. I am going to sit at your feet and wait on you. I am going to remove myself from my usual and normal routine, because Father, without your breath in me, I would not be able to do the usual and normal. Father, I am going to ‘tithe’ my time and ‘talent’, as a wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend, colleague, employee and church worker, intercessor...whatever … to you now.  Because Lord, I know without you, I would not have become or have all these things; things that I will not place before or above you. Things that can be taken away at any time, and if they do, I will come to you in prayer, in silence, in the midst of my storm. So Father, I give you this time to hear, believe and receive from you.
 
So, who has been in our boat, and who has been in the midst of the storm? Mark 4v35-38 speaks of Jesus being in the boat.  A scripture, many may know, but have you thought of the scenario like this? Having Jesus in your boat, knowing he is there and capable of helping, but seeing him asleep!  Watching the Creator asleep, whilst your health, marriage, finance, career, family, disintegrate, break and get battered. Whilst your faith is tested and you wonder if you can continue...Asleep whilst death creeps up and takes a loved one! …."Lord care not that we perish? ...Care not that I perish?  How can you be sleeping?  Don't you feel the boat rocking?... Can't you feel the water seeping in? …Where are you Lord?”
To be continued…!!!​​