You have to admit, life is a little bit weird right now. As I write this, the world is coping with Covid-19 and here in the US (and around the world) we are confined to our homes, practicing social distancing. To add to this, we’re unable to meet together with the body of Christ, and aren’t supposed to get within six feet of our neighbors. It kind of makes serving others tricky.

But Believers are called to do it.

I was reading Matthew 25:40 this morning, which says, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'” Historically, when plagues and wars and famine hit, Christians are the ones who stay behind, serving their neighbors and putting themselves in harms way. Please hear me, I’m not asking you to put yourself, your family, or anyone else in danger, but I am asking you to think outside of the box. We can still be the Church, even if we have to be quite a bit more careful doing it. I asked some of my friends and family, and members of our Pray the Word Journal membership FB group to list ways they’ve been practicing service during this quarantine, and I thought their answers worth sharing.

We have been doing a lot of cooking and baking for family members and friends who are struggling with isolation and loneliness. Leaving food on porches with notes, etc. Our church has our children making cards every week for our senior adults. Each family is checking in with their senior adult every week to see if they need anything as well. ~Teri Lynne Underwood

We have a Facebook group for our small group at church. We are checking in for praises and prayer requests, even just fun things trying to stay connected. We are doing live stream of our lesson on Sunday mornings for just our class. Zoom meetings for church meetings to see face-to-face. We have a list of people who are willing to go to the store for the people who can’t or shouldn’t go out, and we have another list of people calling and checking on people all the time finding out what their needs are. ~Laura Kreitler

My school has a food pantry and some families that use it on a regular basis. So I volunteer to help sort and make meal kits for these families. ~Mary

I’ve been leaving coffee or groceries on friends’ porches that I know need a little extra or who have lost their job. ~Baylie

I’ve tried to reach out to those who are at risk and don’t need to be outside and make grocery runs (TP/paper towels) for them. ~Leslie

We cleaned out our neighbor’s overgrown backyard- she’s elderly and unable. Next will be adding flowers. ~Stina

Send letters to nursing home and assisted living residents. ~Jamie (check first to get procedures from the management).

Take food to the local mission. ~Barbara

Mow the neighbor’s yard. ~Pam

Give blood! ~Meggen

We made some masks the first week home from school and gave them to emergency service. ~Heather

If you have leftovers from dinner take them to the elderly you know who aren’t going out. ~Paula

Pray. ~Tony

That seems wise, Tony! One thing my family has done to serve others is set aside prayer times throughout our day (Noon and 4:12PM). We asked anyone and everyone to please contact us with their prayer requests, and as they come in we add them to a small notebook. Every afternoon, when we sit around our kitchen table to pray, we lift up these needs to God. This has been an amazing tool for togetherness and a perfect way to emphasize the power and importance of prayer.

If you need help knowing what to pray while your family is in quarantine, we’ve put together a few free resources for you.

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Click here to get a list of 8 thing you can pray when the world is in a health crisis.

Click here to download a free list of quarantine prayers.

We’ve also put together this beautiful and timely Easter Edition of Pray the Word Journal. Download your copy for just $7 by clicking here.

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