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Finding hope during uncertain back-to-school routines

We have started our back-to-school rituals – purchasing school uniforms and school supplies for my children. It went pretty much like normal: My youngest kept throwing supplies in the buggie, and I kept putting them back on the shelf. My oldest was telling me to buy a certain type of uniform shirt that doesn’t make him sweat. Amazon packages with supplies slowly began showing up. The only thing missing was my usual excitement about school actually starting. Or my dreams of what this year holds for my children. 

The coronavirus has plagued 2020, literally. I have stopped reading articles about the coronavirus because it’s too overwhelming, and I can’t do anything about it. I scroll past all the snarky comments on social media and hope I don’t have to engage people in a conversation about it. I don’t even find the memes funny anymore. I am sick and tired of being home and social distancing. I am craving social interaction. I am over the coronavirus.

Unfortunately, being over something puts me in a situation where I am not seeking after God. I am not seeking after God’s love or his abounding joy. When this happens, it’s almost like God doesn’t exist. This is why I had such numbness when I was buying all the school supplies and uniforms. Why buy all this stuff if I’m not confident it is needed? However, I am confident the white polo shirts will have a stain even if they are never worn at school.

I realize the coronavirus has brought so many emotions of hopelessness, being overwhelmed and being numb to the constant barrage of media stories about it. However, the one thing I am confident about is that God will provide me and you hope during this time of hopelessness.

The hope I am praying for tonight is that the markers are used at school rather than the walls of my house. I am praying the hand sanitizer and Kleenexes I bought help curb the spread of the coronavirus. I am praying I can find those canisters of Clorox wipes because I need them for the school supply list and for my house. But most of all, I am praying God replaces the hopelessness with hope. Pray with me.

“But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” –Romans 8:24-25

Written by Andi Harrison, regional director for foster care and adoption for Buckner International in North Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.

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