Month: April 2020

This blog post is part of a series whereby we get a glimpse into the life of different Christian families during the COVID-19 lockdown. During this series we’ve heard from parents who are unexpectedly homeschooling their children, from parents who are keyworkers, and from parents who are working remotely from home (and providing childcare/ schooling). While these families may be facing different circumstances – each of them have the same source of hope through this global pandemic. The hope of the gospel.

Today we are really excited to hear about the experience of lockdown from a family who are living in central Turkey. For the family’s safety, their names and photograph have been omitted from this blog post.

A family living in Turkey

1) Describe your family and what your average day looks like under lockdown.

We’re a British family living in a city in the middle of Turkey. We have 3 boys aged nearly 5, nearly 3 and 10 months. My husband works from home as a computer programmer and we also work with and serve the local Turkish church in the city. Under lockdown, in one way, the building blocks of our days remain the same – my husband is still working from home for a large part of the week and I’m still looking after the children and home educating our eldest son. But everything is also completely different as we obviously can’t meet up with people, we’re spending all of our days at home and our work with the church is either being done virtually or put on hold.

2) What challenges have you encountered?

As part of the lockdown measures, under 20 and over 65 year olds are banned from going outside of their homes here. We live in a flat, so not being able to take the children outside at all is pretty challenging! Thankfully our flat is fairly large and has a balcony, which makes it a little easier for them to get some fresh air and get their energy out. But honestly, living here can be hard and lonely at the best of times and not being able to see people or take the children outside makes things even harder.

A big challenge for us is uncertainty and fear about the future. Right now we’re meant to be applying for a visa for my husband that would allow us to stay long term here and also planning for a home assignment back in the UK this summer. Currently we can’t get the visa application done and all international flights to and from Turkey have been stopped. Until now, we’ve been quite privileged in our life here in that we’ve always known that if a family member in the UK was seriously ill, we could get on the next plane and come straight back, or that if one of us was seriously ill, not only would it be relatively straightforward for someone in the UK to come and help us, but there was always the possibility of medical evacuation if required. Now those options are not available to us. We were really looking forward to being back in the UK this summer and seeing friends and family, so if we have to postpone or cancel our home assignment, that will be a big disappointment.

3) What encouragements have you seen?

 A few of the Turkish believers in our church have told us that in recent days some of their non-Christian friends and family have wanted to start reading the Bible or have been asking them about the hope in Jesus that they have. Jesus is going to build his church here and he’ll use even COVID-19 for his glory, and that is a huge encouragement!

Also, like other parents, we’ve had hard conversations with our children recently – why everyone’s talking about a virus, why they can’t see friends, go to church or go outside. But difficult circumstances give us an opportunity to point our kids to Jesus. We’ve been listening to the song ‘Jesus Strong and Kind’ as a family a lot recently and consequently have heard our children repeating to each other and singing (enthusiastically but not always very tunefully!) that “the Lord is good and faithful, he will keep us day and night, we can always run to Jesus, Jesus strong and kind”. It’s encouraging to remember that God will use these times to plant truth deep into little hearts and minds.

4) Why is the gospel good news for your family at this time?

The Gospel is good news for our family at this time because it reminds us that despite all of the fear and uncertainty, the fundamental things have not changed. The worst day in history has already happened when the Son of God died, he’s now alive in heaven interceding for us, and we are alive in him. I don’t know what will happen in the coming days and weeks – but that’s been true all along, Coronavirus has just exposed the illusion that I had some control over events. I do know that in Christ we are eternally secure and loved and safe and that God is trustworthy and faithful in every situation.

And it’s also good news because it’s the liberating truth that by myself, I am weak, sinful and insufficient but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, I am alive in Christ, approved of and loved by God and have the Holy Spirit living in me. So when I’m tempted to think that with enough Pinterest-inspired activities and crafts and enough determination, I can do a great job of occupying and educating my children, supporting my husband, keeping up with video calls, keeping a clean and tidy home etc., I can remember that I’m not strong enough or good enough to do all of this. And when I fail and my plans are in pieces and I get impatient with the children and it’s not even 10am, I can ask my children for forgiveness and know that the Holy Spirit will give me the grace and patience I need for the day.

A huge thank you to this family for taking part in this series!

Why don’t you take a few moments now to pray for this family that are serving Jesus and living in Turkey? Pray that they would know the closeness of Jesus at this time when family, friends and their Turkish church community are at a distance. Pray that God would make a way for them to have their visa application approved when the office reopens; that God may enable them to come back to the UK for home assignment during the summer; and that God would use this time to bring their children to faith in him. Pray that Christ would build his church in Turkey and for the local believers to share Christ boldly and virtually over the coming months.

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A couple of months ago Cathy posted this picture on our Gospel-Centred Parenting Facebook page. This is Christine on her baptism day.

Christine and Cathy met three and a half years ago at the children’s centre play groups. It’s been a wonderful friendship whereby Christine has looked into the life and claims of Jesus and come to faith in him!

Christine actually came to our church for the first time at the dedication service of our two boys (aged 2 and 2 weeks old at the time). Cathy felt, in what she can only describe as a prompting by the Holy Spirit, to give her an invitation to the dedication, even though she didn’t really know her very well.

That Sunday marked the beginning of a journey to faith. Our church family got around Christine to love and support her through the pregnancy and birth of her little girl; the brain tumour and subsequent surgery of her partner Chris; the ups and downs of parenting her little boy Marcus (who is an utter poppet by the way!) and most importantly of all, her looking into the life of Jesus through various events, courses and 1-2-1s. Our church family is pretty awesome at including new people in our community – shout out to our amazing Grace church family. (I’m going to be corny on here, because we are social distancing! Got to get our appreciation in somehow.)

So that’s a bit of background to our dear Christine. And this is why we’re so thrilled to be sharing her story today.

Christine’s Family

1) Describe your family and what your average day looks like under lockdown.

I have two children, Marcus is 7 and Willow who is two. They are early risers! Marcus gets up between 5-6am and Willow usually gets up at around 6am. We start the day with breakfast, then we get dressed and switch Joe Wicks on. Marcus does this while Willow bops in and out (she does some amazing squats, lol) and I get a few jobs done. Marcus then normally has a 15 minute break and then he starts either maths or English (I usually give him that choice). This usually consists of times table rockstars, purple mash, a booklet or some sheets to do. We then usually break for lunch and try to go back to it but if not I don’t force the issue! Then generally around 2/3pm we take our very excitable 4 year old cocker spaniel, Bella to the park. Marcus loves to take his bike (he’s just learned to ride it) and Willow toddles about, this is our daily exercise and to be honest I think if we didn’t have that we’d struggle.

2) What challenges have you encountered?

The challenges I’ve uncovered are, my toddler wanting Mammy’s attention when I’m trying to home school her big brother; she’s used to so much 1-to-1 time, so I think she’s struggling the most. I’m missing our playgroups and seeing my friends and my family whom we see all the time usually. I’m even missing school runs I never thought I’d say that!! My eldest also suffers with anxiety and struggles to voice things so gets angry and shouts which I’ve found challenging. It’s difficult trying to manage that and keep calm myself when my emotions are heightened because of this crazy situation we are all unfortunately in. Home schooling is hard and when it’s in essence forced upon you it’s hard to swallow sometimes. I get anxious as I don’t wanna let him down! It’s a challenge but we are getting through it!

3) What encouragements have you seen?

I have been so encouraged by everyone; seeing others on our walks sticking to the ‘rules’ set so we are all safe is so encouraging, seeing people coming together helping people less fortunate, seeing the key workers go out to work, not even thinking of themselves just thinking of the help they can give. I’m also encouraged by my friends who are parents and the amazing things they are doing with their children despite being out of their comfort zones. I’m also so encouraged by our church family, keeping in touch with daily videos, talking via zoom and so many offers of help if we need it!

4) Why is the gospel good news for your family at this time?

The gospel is such good news to know we have a God who loves us, who sent his only son to die on the cross for us. To know Jesus knew this was to happen yet he still went to the cross to save us. Yes these times are hard, but it’s so comforting to know we have a God who loves us and I can speak to him whenever I feel overwhelmed. Even though I can’t do this by myself, he gives me the strength to carry on.

A huge thank you to Christine’s family for taking part in this series!

Why don’t you take a few moments now to pray for Christine’s family? Pray for Christine and Chris as they seek to parent a toddler and 7 year old through these challenging times. Pray for Christine as she seeks to home school Marcus and pray that Willow would adjust to having her big brother around too. Pray that their faith will grow during this time.

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The Coronavirus crisis has impacted families around the world in profound ways. In this series, ”Covid-19 A day in the life of…”, we can get an insight into how different Christian families are finding hope in the gospel during this uncertain and challenging time.

Some parents are keyworkers and are working hard to serve society as a whole; others find themselves having to work remotely from home while juggling childcare; others find themselves unemployed and full-time homeschooling as a result of this crisis. All of us are social distancing, all of us can only meet our church family virtually, all of us and all of our children have been profoundly impacted by this.

We are really excited about this series. Our hope is that as we hear about how other parents are living for Jesus during this time, it will encourage us to do likewise. So let’s meet Lynn’s family…

Lynn’s Family

1) Describe your family and what your average day looks like under lockdown.

We are a family of four; Me, two beautiful children and an naughty, somewhat smelly, gorgeous dog. I work as a Practice Nurse in a very large doctors surgery. I leave the house every morning before the house is awake and head to meet the challenges of the day. Life at work has changed dramatically over the last couple of weeks. Work is strange. We have scaled back all non urgent work to make way and prepare for urgent covid-19 patients, with daily talk of a covid-19 hub being set up and how many beds there are available in the local hospitals. Isolation rooms are being prepared within the surgery for seeing suspected cases and we are checking to make sure there is plenty of PPE still available. I have spent my week visiting vulnerable patients at home who are frightened and just need to be reassured. We visit in masks, gowns and gloves not because we suspect them of having covid-19 but to protect them from us and the potential that we may carry the virus unknowingly.

Meanwhile at home my children socially distance themselves – at 16 &18 they are old enough to be left on their own. They fill their day with college work, craft activities, walking the dog, jogging, playing xbox , watching Disney + and cooking. It is very refreshing to come home when it’s been a long and stressful day to fresh baking and tea being cooked. My daughter is an awesome Baker!

2) What challenges have you encountered?

The main challenges I find is the guilt I feel every day thinking I could bring Covid-19 into the house. I worry that I put my children in a vulnerable position. I take every precaution I can from changing my clothes at work to showering as soon as I walk in the house, boil washing my uniforms and of course lots and lots of handwashing! My daughter follows me constantly with dettol wipes! I struggle to go shopping and sometimes finding enough food can be a challenge. I shop for my parents too who are both above the age of 70, ensuring that they do not need to go out and can stay at home . My weekends feel like they are full of just trying to get enough food for the week for everyone.

3) What encouragements have you seen?

The blessings definitely outweigh the challenges, I could fill pages and pages of a book telling you about all the individual blessings. We were saying as a family how lovely it was just to sit down to tea together every evening. Life before the coronavirus was busy busy. With everyone’s social life, we sometime would only sit down to tea together once a week.

I have loved witnessing how people are supporting each other . I have been thanked more times in the last week for being a nurse than I probably have in the last 10 years I have been nursing!! I feel so looked after not only by my lovely children but by friends too – I have had some lovely surprise deliveries to the door step.

4) Why is the gospel good news for your family at this time?

I have been acutely reminded over the last week that God has totally got this and that if we look we can see his blessings in this.

I was in then garage last week looking for newspaper and wallpaper paste for a friend, who wanted to do paper mache with her children. I was looking under a garden table that was all covered up with tarpaulin. I spotted out of the corner of my eye a flower! I thought I was seeing things … as I climbed further under the table I saw there was a planter under there which had been there since we moved into the house in December. I thought the planter was empty so had left it there to use in the spring. When I pulled the planter out from under the table there was beautiful flowers growing from it. Spring bulbs that had sprung up and flowered. Even without light or water they had sprung up against the odds and these beautiful flowers had bloomed. Yes the stems were a little floppy and not as green as they normally would be, but the blooms …they were no less beautiful and vibrant.

I was reminded of Isaiah 43.19

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Gods love and blessing have been so clear to me especially over the last year. Even though the last year has been difficult and so painful for me personally and the last couple of weeks, scary and uncertain. I can see that God is doing a new thing not only in my life but that of my family too. The good news is that even though the world feels dark right now and it is scary, God is still doing wonderful things. Those bulbs are still continuing to bloom. We just need to open our eyes and look for them.

A huge thank you to Lynn’s family for taking part in this series!

Why don’t you take a few moments now to pray for Lynn’s family? For protection for Lynn and her children as she nurses on the front line. For their faith to grow during this time, and for them to continue to see blessings spring out of this.

Could you take part in this series?

We would love to feature as many families as possible in this series.

If you would like to take part, then please send you answers in an email or DM, to the following questions (it should only take 10 mins or so to answer them):

1) Describe your family and what your average day looks like now under lockdown. (Some parents are key workers, some parents are juggling working from home while providing childcare, others find themselves unexpectedly homeschooling – what is your situation?)

2) What challenges have you encountered?

3) What encouragements have you seen?

4) Why is the gospel good news for your family at this time?

This blog post is part of our new series “COVID-19: A day in the life of…” where different families will give us a glimpse into their new lives during the Coronavirus crisis. In this series we will hear from parents who are keyworkers; who find themselves unemployed and unexpectedly homeschooling; who are juggling working remotely from home and providing childcare; from foreign missionaries and international families to learn about how this global pandemic is having a huge impact on families around the world.

As we see into their lives, we’ll get a chance to hear how to gospel is good news for them in the midst of this crisis.

The Van Zyl Family

1. Describe your family and what your average day looks like under lockdown.

We are a family of 5 humans and 2 dogs! Our days are looking quite different at the moment, as we are all under the same roof 24/7. My husband used to work away quite a lot and our 2 eldest children (aged 16 and 6) were going to school each day. That meant my youngest (aged 1) and I were going to playgroups and meeting up with friends, on most days prior to lockdown.

2. What challenges have you encountered?

My biggest challenge has been managing 3 different age groups within our family. Most attempts at trying to be productive with my 6 year old daughter, are often thwarted by her little brother! My husband is mostly heard muttering that he doesn’t know how I do this every day!

3) What encouragements have you seen?

I have to say that my encouragements have far outweighed the challenges…well for now anyway! I love having my whole family under one roof and have realised that I am definitely a mother hen when it comes to wanting my children under my wings, so to speak. I am thoroughly enjoying spending time with my daughter and working through little bits of her school curriculum, as well as having time for all the other fun stuff! I have also been encouraged seeing how we are all learning to get along well and that we are handling conflict situations way better than before. The slower pace of life definitely agrees with me. I have time for the little things and I have found that I’m actually way more creative than I ever thought. I’ve also enjoyed connecting with friends, family and neighbours in the virtual realm or even as we’ve met coincidentally, during our daily exercise time, across the river near where we live!

4) Why is the gospel good news for your family at this time?

The gospel is the best news for my family during this time because we have hope in something far greater than anything this world could ever offer us. We don’t need to live in fear of the covid-19 virus and we can go through our days with an assurance that God is in control of everything. It also helps me to know that our days under lockdown don’t have to go smoothly or perfectly and that’s actually okay. Every morning I give my day over to God and I rest in the peace that only He can provide and in the shadow of His wings.

A huge thank you to the Van Zyl family for taking part!

Why don’t you take a few moments to pray for the Van Zyl family right now? Pray that God will help mum, Michele, as she juggles looking after the educational, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of her three children. Pray for dad, Sheldon as he seeks to be productive as he works from home. Pray that God would help them to continue to grow in unity as a family during this lockdown.

Could you take part in this series?

We would love to feature as many families as possible in this series.

If you would like to take part, then please send you answers in an email or DM, to the following questions (it should only take 10 mins or so to answer them):

1) Describe your family and what your average day looks like now under lockdown. (Some parents are key workers, some parents are juggling working from home while providing childcare, others find themselves unexpectedly homeschooling – what is your situation?)

2) What challenges have you encountered?

3) What encouragements have you seen?

4) Why is the gospel good news for your family at this time?