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 the Belford family…
The Belford Family
1) Describe your family and what your average day looks like now under lockdown.
We’re a family of 4 – my husband Iain is an anaesthetist so is working on the frontline in ICU at the moment, I stay at home with our two daughters Isla (2.5 years old) and Abigail (5 months old). At the moment we’re trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible because we expect in the near future Iain will mainly be at work and I’ll be single parenting. Our days currently consist of a lot of baking and painting for Isla, and the odd walk around our village as ‘exercise’.
2) What challenges have you encountered?
For us our main challenge is fear. As Iain sees the sickest Covid-19 patients, there’s a fear that he’ll bring it back home to us, and that we’ll get a severe form of the disease. Ensuring that the girls don’t pick up on that fear and stress is a challenge.
3) What encouragements have you seen?
We’ve been encouraged by the sense of community in our village over Covid-19. We are getting more opportunities to speak with our neighbours (at a safe distance!), where in normal circumstances we wouldn’t do.
4) Why is the gospel good news for your family at this time?
The gospel helps us ground our fear in Christ – He can ease that burden when we talk to Him. We have the knowledge that God is in control right now, and we can trust Him. Ultimately, in the worst case scenario, we know that Iain and I will see each other in Heaven. I think the current events have given us time to grow closer to God, and to teach our children that we can cast our anxiety on Him.
A huge thank you to the Belford family for taking part in this series!
Why don’t you take a few moments now to pray for the Belford family? For protection for Iain. For hope and faith in the face of fear for Katherine, his wife. For their gospel opportunities in their village, and for faith to grow in their young children.
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?