Imprisoned Without Bars

Last month I shared the stories of my sweet Grandma and dear friend Steve, whose lives shone brightly with the love of Jesus despite the seemingly “little places” of their lives. I could not have imagined that all of our lives would shrink overnight as we were told to “shelter in place.” Today, we are each faced with the question of how we will respond and what our lives will reflect. Will it be fear and despair or trust and hope?

Last year, I began reflecting on how much time and energy I had wasted being imprisoned by the invisible bars of fear and worry. I hid behind palatable words like concern or preparation. The truth was these words just made me feel better about my anxiety and my fearfulness. This internal confinement kept me from being useful, peaceful, and the person God created me to be.

As I journaled, I began to notice scripture that used words like captive or being entangled: words that described retrained movement, lack of freedom, and forward momentum. I wondered how much of my life I had spent in this self-imposed prison. A jail that did not have bars of steel but bars of fear and worry. These two emotions kept me captive. I was like the servant whose master gave him one talent, and instead of investing it, he hid it out of fear of losing it.

How to Start when Life is Out of Control

This month, we are all facing a new and global “prison without bars” due to the coronavirus. In the past, reaching out to family and friends, church fellowship, and group activities were the healthy solutions we practiced to free ourselves from our emotional confinement. Today those actions have been discouraged or forbidden.

These times remind us how much of life is out of our control. But we can control our response. This virus is serious, but we have a unique opportunity to ask the Lord where we can shine His light of love, hope, encouragement, and provision to those less fortunate. With prayer and action working together, God will enlarge our hearts and manifest His love through our lives while remaining safe.

Times of uncertainty are always times of opportunity. We discover who we really are and what our character is. Are we hoarders, or are we givers? Will we withhold love and compassion, or will we look for areas to help, love, encourage, and supply? Will we offer a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to our God or complain about all we don’t have or might lose? It is a moment-by-moment choice.

We are all in this together, and together with the grace and love of God, we will not just survive, but we will thrive. God has provided each of us with something to give. It may be financial, spiritual, emotional, or physical. As I pray for those who are suffering, I am also praying for wisdom and insight for new and creative ways to reach out and step out of this confinement to help while remaining at home.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.”

II Thessalonians 2:16, 17

Blessings,

Personal Parables is the blog of Dyann Shepard. Get Dyann’s complementary study in Proverbs and prayer guide, What to Do When You Don’t Feel Good Enough. If you need encouragement to remember the truth about yourself in times of doubt and anxiety, this free 5-day study is for you. Follow Dyann and Personal Parables on Instagram and Facebook. Dyann is available for speaking, guest blogging, and article writing.

Provisions for reflection:

Call or write that friend who you have lost touch with to let them know they are not forgotten.
Leave a flowering plant with a note of love for someone confined to a hospital bed or nursing home.
Leave a note for a new neighbor who you haven’t met yet and introduce yourself.
Help provide a meal or a friend’s utilities or rent.
Enjoy God’s creation by taking a walk in the fresh air.
Update a journal of gratitude, thanking God for what you do have.
Write that poem or story that has been in your heart.
Take an online class.
Skype or facetime with family and friends.
Finish a project that you never seem to get to.
Rest in God’s presence.
Pray with a friend over the phone.
Read, rest, and restore yourself.

Scripture for Meditation

If you need some meditation based on scripture, here are several passages to read along with my new post, Imprisoned Without Bars.

2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV) – For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Psalm 46:1-3 – God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

Psalm 91:2 – I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”

Psalm 119:32 – I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.

Matthew 6:25-34 – (God’s cure for anxiety)

Phillippians 4:6 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

“ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.”
Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV)

Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV) – Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

James 1:5 – But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.