Article by: Charlotte J.
Hey! My name is Charlotte. I want to ask you today…
Are you feeling sad, afraid or overwhelmed? Have had many hard things happen in your life, or even in the last year? Then I know how you feel.
In March 2020, we came to America. Within days of being here, we went into lockdown because of the Coronavirus and couldn’t go to see our friends for months. Then they closed the Australian borders, where I’m from, and cancelled our flights to go back and visit our family. We were stuck. When we were allowed to go outside again, everything was different. I didn’t recognise anything anymore and everyone was wearing masks. It didn’t make sense and things felt a bit scary. Then to make it worse, we were sent back inside again for a few months because we had bad fires here in north California and had black skies for three months. The air was really bad to breathe.
I began to feel more and more sad… and like I would never see my grandparents and friends back in Australia again. This was a very difficult change for me to experience and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I know that there are many injustices in the world but this felt like an injustice to me. It didn’t feel right. I began meeting other kids who were also stuck, missing their family and feeling like I was. I wanted to know Jesus’ heart on it, all so I asked Him.
He led me to the story of Leah in the Bible. Leah was Rachel’s older sister, Jacob’s first wife. She went through some very hard things in her life that made her feel abandoned by God, like he didn’t care for her. Leah’s sister Rachel didn’t experience the same hard things that she did. I think Leah must had felt unloved and sad. This to her was a big injustice. But in the end, God turned it around by blessing her with seven children and a really happy life after all the bad things she went through.
I feel that God led me there because he is saying that same thing over you right now. He is saying that even though you may have been through many hard things in the last year and although you feel like Leah, like nothing makes sense and everything is unfair, He is going to turn around everything you have been facing for you.
I feel like many of you have been through many changes that have been difficult. Maybe you are afraid of what is happening all around us in the world right now and it has made your heart sad or scared, but soon you will feel settled and happy again. That is God’s heart of justice, that it may seem like things work against you, but it’s not that way for long before you see things shift.
Can I pray for you? God, I pray over every person reading this right now that they will feel your peace and heal their hearts today. Show them how much you love them and turn every situation around in Jesus’ name, amen!
Also here is another thought I had when I was writing this. Trust in God’s ultimate plan even when you don’t understand it. Sometimes things will not work out the way you hoped it would, but God has something even better planned for you. His justice and His plan are always perfect, so trust Him to work it all out for you because He loves you.
“For this reason, the Lord is still waiting to show his favor to you so he can show you his marvelous love. He waits to be gracious to you. He sits on his throne ready to show mercy to you. For Yahweh is the Lord of justice, faithful to keep his promises. Overwhelmed with bliss are all who will entwine their hearts in him, waiting for him to help them” Isaiah 30:18
This article first appeared in Edition 30.
