The last twelve months has held a lot of change for my family. One year ago, I stepped away from a comfortable career as a minister of music to pursue a new ministry as a volunteer. This call to faith wasn’t just for me. It was a call for my kids to leave the only church they’d ever known. It was a call for my wife to become the primary income earner.

During this time, we as a family have experienced disappointment, grief, and sorrow. At the same time, we have experienced faith, hope, and love – for each other and God, as we have never experienced before.

A little more than two weeks ago, we faced yet another change. In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, my employer sent me home, and the kid’s schools closed. This change, like all the others, has not been easy. But, like all the others, this change has come with new blessings and new growth we did not expect.

God leads us into new normals to deepen our trust in Him. Moses went from slave to national hero. Peter went from fisherman to father of the early church. Both men faced unimaginable circumstances, yet their trust in God increased along the way.

Adapting to new normals requires a series of stages. The story of Joseph in Genesis chapters 37-47 is a story of a man who suffered many new normals in his life: from honored son to slave, from slave to master of a household, from master to prisoner, from prisoner to national leader. His story will guide us as we look at the following stages.

[bctt tweet="God leads us into new normals to deepen our trust in Him."]

Stage 1: Grief for What is Lost

Closing schools, losing jobs, and receiving a diagnosis of an unknown virus is shocking. Especially for an American culture that is hell-bent focused on routine and success. There is a grief that comes with these losses. Last week, my wife, Amy, wrote the following:

“We’re being asked to flex our grit, act with resilience, parent our kids like never before in uncharted waters. But in the back of our minds and the depths of our hearts, we have this profound sense of grief that no one is really talking about out loud. We always think that our situation is not as bad as that person or that country over there, so we aren’t entitled to that grief response, but at the same time, it’s so real.”

Amy Patrick

In Genesis 40:14-15, Joseph is a prisoner who interprets the dreams of two high ranking government officials. He shares the pain of his story, hoping to receive compassion and favor to be released from his sentence. Surely Joseph grieved what he had lost. Followers of Jesus are allowed to grieve. Jesus himself demonstrated grief at the loss of his beloved friend, Lazarus (John 11:33-36). 

It is OK for you and your family to grieve your child’s graduation. It is OK for you to grieve your separation from people. It is OK for you to grieve those who are sick and not receiving help because of overwhelmed facilities. Even if you think someone is going through a worse situation than yours, it is still OK to grieve. 

What have you lost that you need to grieve?

Stage 2: Gratitude for What is Found

While in your grief for what is lost, look for what is found in your new normal. Joseph continually found himself in a new normal. One of those new normals would enable him to rescue his family from a severe famine (Genesis 46:28-34). 

Just in these last few weeks, my family has found: 

dinners shared

firepit conversations

walking and biking together

renewed faith and commitment to Jesus

Gratitude. And my heart wells over in fullness of the steadfast love of God that He is pouring out during this season of change.

What have you found for which you need to be grateful?

Stage 3: Perspective for the New Normal

The COVID-19 pandemic is the first “Pearl Harbor” moment for my children. My grandparents would experience a much different life after December 7, 1941. For my parents, that moment was the assassination of President Kennedy, and for me, it was the Challenger explosion and 9/11. A shared crisis provides a point in which we will remember life before and life after.

We need to find a new normal for this in-between period.

We must recognize the life we lived before March 2020 will never be lived again and accept a new normal for this time of quarantine. We have to stop thinking about our calendar the way we did in February. Our daily and weekly routines need adjustment to provide stability for ourselves and our children.

These adjustments will help us remain faithful to our task as followers of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). Joseph never lost faith in God’s plan for his life, even though it took him through many new normals. He always found a way to use his gifts to serve others and continue moving forward (Genesis 39:2, Genesis 40:5-13, Genesis 41:37-40).

There will be a new way of life once we emerge from this time. 

We need to be prepared to find a new normal after the quarantine. I pray in that season to come; we will remember what we found. I pray the church will remember what it’s like not to be complacent within walls. I pray the desire for connection with and serving our neighbor will not be tempered by a passion for self-fulfillment. 

I pray our values will be refreshed by losing what we wanted and finding what we needed.

[bctt tweet="I pray our values will be refreshed by losing what we wanted and finding what we needed."]

Photo by Bryan Patrick, with thanks to the Forst family.