How long, Lord? How long will this pandemic go on? How long can we live like this? How can I be strong during this unprecedented time of sickness and racial unrest? How can I learn more and trust more? How can I use my voice to make a difference? How long will You tarry until You come back and bring Your kingdom to this troubled earth? 

These are all questions that have bubbled up in my times of journaling and spending time with the Lord. How is an adverb that means "in what way or manner" or "to what extent or degree". 

The problems that are currently "in the news" seem insurmountable at times. However, as I was praying, the Lord reminded me of the song, "How High and How Wide". (by Mark Altrogge)

VERSE 1
No eye has seen and no ear has heard
And no mind has ever conceived
The glorious things that You have prepared
For every one who has believed
You brought us near and You called us Your own
And made us joint-heirs with Your Son

CHORUS
How high and how wide
How deep and how long
How sweet and how strong is Your love
How lavish Your grace
How faithful Your ways
How great is Your love, O Lord

God's love is higher and wider, and deeper and longer than my mind can fathom! His love is sweeter, stronger, and greater than any love I have ever known!

This sweet reminder of God's overwhelming, abundant, and lavish grace is what my weary soul needed this past week. 

I'm not sure there are answers, but I sense that He is leading me to the next step. I'm reading books by different authors and trying to understand some of the racial issues. I want to be a better friend to all of my brothers and sisters. 

I love Ephesians 3:14-20 in the Common English Bible:

"This is why I kneel before the Father. Every ethnic group in heaven or on earth is recognized by Him. I ask that He will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of His glory through the Spirit. I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love, I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us." (emphasis mine)

The answer to the "how's" can be found in the love of God! Amen.

This post was prompted by Kate Motaung's "Five Minute Friday," which she hosts on the Five Minute Friday website. Kate posts a single word each week and each blogger sets a timer for 5 minutes to write and then posts, with little editing. (Some weeks I have more trouble with that part than others.) Check out the other writers on this topic!

I have decided to invest my time in this online educational course. It is presented by Lucretia Berry, blogger and author of "What Lies Between Us" and founder of Brownicity. The online course begins Tuesday, June 16th, 2020. I have included it here in case you are led to join, also.