Pandemic Praises

The COVID-19 pandemic was the worst event that I have experienced in my lifetime, yet I could still praise God during it.

One day, I went out for my allowed “essential chores.” I returned home but sat for a while in the car before going indoors. Later that evening, I heard on the news that at that exact time, parts of Jamaica, including the place where I was sitting, were rocking to a 7.3 earthquake, which I did not feel! The word earthquake terrifies me. But God, who knows that, kept me from experiencing it.

I always choreograph my “essential chores” expeditiously the night before I hit the road. My plan one night was to visit a bank south of an intersection near my home, but in the morning, I somehow woke with a different plan —to go north instead to another bank. That day, there was a shooting incident south of the intersection I would have traveled through that could have affected me in various ways, but God gave me a change of plans during the night. Another day, I was heading home when I stopped behind a huge front-end loader at a red light. The light turned green, and initially it didn’t move, then it began moving —in reverse! I started blowing my horn, and he waved me to pass him, but I could not because he had rolled too close. I tried to reverse but had to stop as the motorist behind started blowing. I wish I could say I prayed then, but I just froze as this huge mass pushed me back, then stopped! I calmly exited my car, without any injury, and I heard the driver explain that his vehicle had shut down. I completed all the legal requirements like a robot and then drove the car away. Someone told me later that when those vehicles shut down, they don’t stop rolling back, so by logic I should have been crushed, but God..., and my morning prayers before I left home. Thanks to God, my family has not been infected by COVID-19, but stay-at-home orders have affected me emotionally.

However, I choose to praise an awesome God for His goodness during an awful time. I wish to express my sincere condolences to all who have been negatively affected by this pandemic.

Cecelia Grant