What is Our Hope?

It has been a month since the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine here in the Philippines. How are you holding up so far? I know it’s never easy for everyone and the majority is worried about the security of their basic necessities. I will not speak on behalf of anyone as I am not in the position to tell you that ‘everything will be alright.’ I, too, don’t know when will this pandemic end nor when we’ll all go back to our normal daily activities – or will we ever go back to the way it used to be. It got me thinking… What could God be teaching us?

What I know is that this pandemic is definitely changing us – inside and out. This crisis has different effects on us, may it be physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I believe no one can say that they are more affected than the other as we are all experiencing this pandemic without any socio-economic bias. If it hits you, it hits you.

For the first few weeks, it was kind of rough for me. I had to rush and crunch my brain cells on what could I do as the HR of the company I am working with. It wasn’t easy. No one ever wanted this to happen and no one could ever prepare to a pace that may change daily. My eyes and ears were all over the news and I knew this will hit the operations if uncontrolled. The government would address the state at late night and there I was, waiting and watching every time; I was restless. Losing sleep is not a common thing for me but hey, I am supposed to work from home but it felt like the work tripled and the pressure drilled me down to my core. It’s quite terrible, I must say, that we really are ungrateful people. It is in our nature not to be easily contented and tend to compare with others especially on the companies’ initiatives. I won’t lie, it gives me a pang of pain seeing our employees comparing and seemingly ungrateful towards our plans for them. My co-managers were spending restless nights thinking about how they could save their units and some employees are just not easy to please. “Do they even think about how could they help the company?” it is a hanging question for me. Well, we can never please everyone. It’s cliche, but still true.

I won’t deny it, I am worried about what’s happening especially when the government announced that we must extend the quarantine period. How about my job security? How about my mom who is one of the front liners in the government? How about financial needs? Why am I worrying? How am I preparing for the upcoming yet unseen changes? There were hours I spent mindlessly asking myself those questions that I know I may never find answers until it is already happening to me.

²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28 NASB

God has His ways of reminding His people not to worry. I am learning to hold on to this promise and changed my perspective from focusing on my anxieties to focusing on drawing confidence with full assurance of faith. God will never leave His people and it is evident even way back the Old Testament. The God of Moses is still and will forever be Our God. Unchanging, Sovereign and Omnipresent. Surely, this pandemic has an ending but our God’s power is endless. Thinking about this, gave me comfort and allowed me to rest in God’s words.

There really is Hope. If Jesus can triumph over death, nothing really is impossible as long as we believe and follow Him. Today is the Resurrection Sunday and it’s amazing to realize that I am now picturing (in my head) that the symbol of “hope” is an empty tomb of Jesus. I believe that ONLY God can give ‘that’ beautiful image in my heart.

11 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1 NLT

Fighting the anxieties through God’s words, I am learning more about myself and how I could be productive during this period. I salute my fellow HR Professionals out there for keeping up the good work in your own respective forts, just to ensure your employees’ safety above all else. I would never have survived my first few weeks as an HR if it weren’t with the help of my HR Mentoring Community. They kept me in line with what an HR’s role should be during this crisis and kept me updated with facts, sifting through the flood of fake news. I am also learning to be more sympathetic towards other people and the balance in my emotions as a part of the management and a regular employee at the same time. This experience is not a walk in the park for me and I could never thank God enough for allowing me to go through all these by His grace alone.

My DGroup and D12 schedules are still the same and we always Praise God for technology and people’s availability. I am amazed at how can God transform us in a span of days. I am also more productive now during my quiet time. I just had to move it later at night to avoid distractions and hey, it works for me! I also started sharing my journals on my Facebook Page to encourage more people to take down notes during their quiet time and really jot down their learnings. I’ll embed my first post about it and you can check the rest on my FB page. I’ll be updating it from time to time.

As I dwell more into God’s words, I am understanding His immense and unchanging love through Jesus’ death. If only we could hang on to His promises, build our trust on Jesus as our solid foundation, our hearts and perspective during this period will change. Hang on to the Hope that is freely given to us. We must keep this in our hearts, “Jesus has risen, and is alive forever.”

Well, the fact that Jesus has risen, there will always be Hope.

⁹ I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. ¹⁰ For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. ¹¹ May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Philippians 1:9-11 NLT