
The transition and tribulations that the world has experience this year thus far, is honestly exhausting. Almost every area of life has felt the turbulence of 2020, and no one has been immune from its boisterous winds. Metaphorically, these winds are tornadic in nature, simultaneously spinning awe, fear, faith, astonishment, anger, sadness, confusion, and even hope. If one is not careful, the fear of this season can be paralyzing, much like what happens in the fight, flight, or freeze principle. When humans are faced with danger or extreme fear, they choose one of the 3 responses. In the freeze scenario, our brain spontaneously takes over and immobilizes us, in hopes that the threat will lose interest or wander off. Be that as it may, in this 2020 season, you and I cannot afford to freeze nor become immobile because the swirling unrest we’re witnessing may or may not “wander off” or dissipate anytime soon. So, what do we do? Well, there was once a man described in the Bible as being paralyzed for 38 years. He and other sickly people would lay waiting by a pool called Bethesda, because from time to time an angel of the Lord would trouble the waters, and the first person who entered the water would be healed. On one particular day, He caught the attention of Jesus who immediately comprehended his state and the length of time he’d been paralyzed. Jesus approached him and asked, “would you like to get well?” to which the man responded, “I can’t because I have no one to help me into the pool at the movement of the water. While I’m trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me.” Jesus responded and said, “Get up, take your bed, and walk.” And immediately, the man was healed, took his bed, and walked. You may feel immobilized by everything that’s going on around you or even in you ... exhausted by life’s happenings, but just as Jesus asked the man at the Pool of Bethesda, “Would you like to get well?”, He also poses the same question to you and even offers opportunity for healing. You see, trouble will always be a part of this world and there are always excuses why we should just give in to our circumstances, but Jesus has overcome the world and offers us peace, victory, and movement. He provides us with rest in exhaustion, and then restores us ... so in times like these, you and I can thrive and be instruments of good that provoke positive change in this forever-changing world. So again I ask, what do we do? We take Jesus’ offer of healing, whether emotionally or spiritually, and GET UP. You were made to be the light, overcome in this season, and you have the ability to be a world-changer for good. What will you choose?
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (John 5:8-9 NIV)
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