I collected stories about how faith kept people moving forward and put them together as a devotional for this Lenten season.
You can download the entire devotional here:
https://www.mosaicpearland.org/s/lent.pdf

From Diane Kaulen:

The year 2020 has left us all a little shell shocked.  As I look back on the year, the COVID pandemic has provided me opportunities that I didn’t know how much I needed.  Life completely stopped, and I loved it.  All the normal day to day stresses of work, kid’s activities, volunteering, and homework all halted.  I work in health care so the numerous projects I managed all were put on hold and all our energy was placed on COVID. Even my commute to work decreased dramatically. The fear of the unknown of COVID was minimal to the freedom I felt by its existence.  I finally had time to focus on what really mattered – family.

Ah… so nice.

Well, as time moved on, I began to deal with new challenges that I was not expecting.  I was managing a staff pool that was emotionally falling apart.  My family began to struggle with isolation, loss of work, mental health, education challenges and health issues.  I found myself in a world of people who were fragile and struggling to hold themselves up.

Society was also crumpling around us. I began to humble myself and look at systemic racism in a way that felt like a punch in the gut.

I began to see and hear how people I love and adore, dug in to their beliefs and continued to sit in their glass houses of white privilege, and share language that I didn’t understand and couldn’t agree with. I tried not to, but I did begin to look at people differently.

Right before my eye, the calmness I felt when the pandemic started turned into something I wasn’t prepared for.  For my family and employees, I had to be the strong one.  There was no room for me to crumble.  I also had to find a way to reconcile my own reflections on the summer events and find love for those whose beliefs seemed so lacking of humility and grace.

It was hard work.

There is only one answer to this and that is God. He says in Matthew 11:28-30. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humbled of heart; and you will find rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Every day I work to go to God. Every day I work to learn from God. Every day I try to be gentle and humbled. And every day I do this, I find rest.