By: Erin M Diericx
A reflection on answering God’s call during the pandemic as a disabled individual.
When you grow up with a disability and have friends with disability, you learn at a young age how fragile life is, because a common cold could potently turn into pneumonia and kill your medically fragile best friend. When you are sick, you understand staying away from your medically fragile best friend means more playdates in the future, because staying away keeps them from becoming sick and facing the true consequence—death. When your medically fragile best friend becomes sick, you spend every spare moment praying to God to make them well again and for more playdates in the future. These life lessons are not intentionally taught to those of us growing up within the disabled community, though they are cultivated within the very fabric through the experiences of the community itself. These life lessons have formed me into the person I am today—empathic to those who grief and a sense of calling to keep the medically fragile safe. Ultimately these lessons have cultivated a calling within me to always keep my focus on the Lord and to lead others to the Lord.
The coronavirus pandemic has lead me to rely on these lessons of my childhood. I have stayed home in order to reduce my expose to the virus and to keep my family and my personal caregivers (my bubble) safe. Those who know me personally know not being able to travel is a true sacrifice for me. However, I have done it with a sense of duty to my loved ones—those who are more immune compromised than myself, because I want them around for years to come.
For most of the pandemic, I have been living much like a monk—only leaving the house when necessary. This has allowed me to focus on my relationship with the Triune God. I have gotten in a routine of doing evening prayer every night, which keeps me center on the Lord. This is extremely helpful when situations that in the past would cause my anxiety to be elevated come up, because I rely more on the Lord to see me through [whatever “it” is]. There is peace in knowing the Lord is with me in all circumstances and all the time.
Living like a monk has taken me back to the basics—being in God’s presence, prayer, and mediation. I have spent days deep in prayer lifting up those who are sick, dying, grieving, wondering, and lost. The world is in pain from attacks from who oppose the Triune God—Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, I keep my focus on God and his promise of eternal life in his kingdom, because nothing else gives me greater peace.
This shift my ministry in my ministry has allowed me to reach out to those far and near. Instead of visiting with individuals, I messaging them prayers and sending them cards. In doing so, I have been able to do direct others to the Lord in order to rely on him to give them peace and to strengthen their relationship with him.
I pray one day we will be able to gather in groups again and be a thriving community again. Until then, we can sit and pray for the broken and fragile world.
O Lord, we lift up the lonely and the grieving as they suffer attacks from the devil. Give them your strength and wisdom to continue to seek your light in the darkness. Comfort the grieving. Heal the sick. Walk with us as we seek to bring you glory in the world with the help of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord, and the Holy Spirit. + Amen.