Preparing Your Health for Life After Covid-19

With governors announcing that shelter-in-place ordinances will be lifted as soon as the end of this week, it has many wondering how to enter into our life as usual, or possibly wondering if we should resume life as before.

Covid-19 has forced us into slower rhythms. While some of this time has been frustrating, it has also given us space to settle into some life-giving routines like outdoor walking, home-cooked meals, and spending more time with family. We have been allowed to focus on what really matters.

We may be nervous about entering into our regularly scheduled stress-filled fast-paced lifestyle.

A Forbes article says we might not have a say in it at all: "This coronavirus has made us more environmentally conscious and economical, more collaborative and understanding, but almost exclusively because we were forced to be. When those parameters vanish, there will be little to ensure that the vast majority of the good and noble habits we adopted during this unusual time will automatically stick the way some forecasts suggest they will."

Those parameters do not have to vanish. God says the boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places!

Let’s discover how to prepare our health for this next phase of re-entry into the Promised Land of Togetherness by defining our next new normal and putting up some sturdy boundary lines set in prayer.

What is the Promised Land of Life After Covid-19?

We know how to move forward, because we’ve been here before.

God rescued the Israelites out of a land of slavery, rested with them in the wilderness, taught them how to be His people, and led them into the Promised Land. Sound familiar?

Maybe we, too, have been rescued out of our own form of slavery: possibly obsession with getting ahead sacrificing our health along the way. What truths has God been revealing through this time?

Maybe we, too, have been given a chance to rest our hope in God alone to provide and carry us through this isolating wilderness of a pandemic. What rest have you found?

Maybe we, too, are being led into a new normal, and we can choose to keep what God has given us during this time or be swept up in the culture of survival. What are you looking forward to that you have taken for granted?

The future is uncertain, but the promises of God are not. When our heart can rest, our body finds rest, too. The Promised Land is exactly what is says: a land of promises. While we can’t be sure what’s ahead, we can be sure about God’s promises. He can’t break them, He has already fulfilled them in Christ, and He proves it to us with His Spirit. What promises will you cling to and step further into as we transition? The Bible is full of them, but I’ve listed a few here.

God’s Promises

God Is Always with Me: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10
God Is Always Working For Good: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
God Always Delivers: The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:18
God Always Provides: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:3
God Is Always on Time: “ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9
God Is Always Victorious: “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” 2 Corinthians 2:14

Write down the promise that speaks to you. This is your Promised Land, the place your heart will find comfort, security, and love in the midst of another transition. Get familiar with it. Journal it, speak it, memorize it.* This verse will lay your path.

*Need help memorizing? I’ve made a few videos to memorize Scripture with the whole family!

Steps to Prepare for Your Health After Covid-19

Here’s how to approach your new normal, based on the book of Numbers, which in Hebrew means “Into the Wilderness.” If history repeats itself, it has also laid out a map for us to follow:

Count your blessings: The Israelites started with a census, to determine what they had before they went forward. What blessings has God given you in this time? More time to be outside and exercise? A renewed love of baking? Journal your answers.
Test for signs of sickness: The Israelites had a lot of cleansing rituals to ensure the health of the whole community. It’s important to monitor symptoms so we don’t continue to spread the virus. The more testing we can do when sickness arises, the better!
When is it clear to jump in? Let God go first. He showed up as a pillar of cloud during the day and fire by night to lead the people, but His presence now lives in our hearts. If we aren’t sure whether or not to jump in, we can ask God. He will either settle us with peace or stir us to action.
Test the waters: Like the spies entered the Promised Land, get a taste of your new normal by safely testing one aspect of your life and look for the following, focusing on the fruit. Beth Moore says to “measure the size of the obstacle against the size of God”:
1. Fears: What do you have to lose?
2. Fruit: What are you excited about?
Take it slow. The Lord did not bring the Israelites into the Promised Land right away, otherwise it be taken over by wild animals (Lord, may we not turn into wild animals!) We will slowly venture out into gyms and restaurants, patiently, step-by-step. And then we will do it all in one day, because Lord knows we need someone else to cook for us and someone to workout with.
What do you want to keep? There are some things you might want to carry with you into life after Covid-19. This could be daily walks, home-cooked meals, life in sweatpants. The underlying values we want to strengthen could be love for our neighbor, hope in God, family unity. Settle down with your people and decide what you want to keep.
What do you want to leave behind? If you like the idea of going on bike rides at night instead of heading to the gym like before Covid-19, by all means, leave the gym behind and move for joy. If you’ve been getting along fine without the fast food drive thrus, maybe you don’t need them as much as you thought you did.
Define your boundaries:
“Boundaries define us. They define what is me and what is not me." —Boundaries
Before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the tribes determined their boundary lines, and helped each other out. We don’t need to say yes to everything and create a hectic schedule. First let us remember what our Promised Land is and stay within it.
1. Physical health boundaries: Where are you feeling physically strained? Create a boundary. It could be a bed time, a portion size, a limit on screen time.
2. Spiritual health boundaries: Where are you feeling spiritually off? Connect with God in prayer, music, getting out in creation, or in the Word. Is someone trespassing against your boundaries, or are you trespassing in another area? Discover those boundaries and come back home to the Lord.

Set up reminders of your freedom

No matter where we are in life, in quarantine or in the land of free germs, God has set us free. And as the book Boundaries says,

You get as much as you can be responsible with and are able to use well. Freedom=responsibility=love. These three things always have to be equal. You will get the amount of freedom that you use with responsibility, and responsibility always expresses itself in love.

Let’s stay responsible as we venture out into our freedom, always keeping love at the center of all we do. But we will forget God’s promises, we will stray from the Promised Land as time goes by, so we need to set up regular rhythms to re-member, so keep us connected with Him.

In the wilderness, God set up a system of sacrifices: flour, wine, animals. All things they did not have yet in the desert. At first read, it all sounds arbitrary. But this food lineup is the menu of a feast—God was giving them a vision to feast with Him in the Promised Land!

What is He asking you to do now that seems impossible? Possibly to take a whole day off of work once a week?

Maybe what He is asking is not to take away from your time but to set a time for you and Him to be together. That’s what the Promised Land of Togetherness is all about. And your health will be all the better for it!