Tweets of Grace

In 2020, when the COVID-19 Pandemic began, overwhelming feelings of fear and isolation plagued many people. While people were concerned about catching the virus, mixed messages from national and local officials made it difficult to decide which advice to follow and which protection was best. Jobs were lost, businesses failed, and many people lost loved ones. Schools were opened, then closed, some were conducted online or a mixture of on-site and online classes for every level of education, so who knew what was best to ensure children would not lose scholastic progress? Demonstrations and protests occurred around the country, which sometimes became violent. People didn’t know who to trust and who to oppose. Lines were drawn between groups with no compromise in sight.
Aside from this unusual world catastrophe, in general, I wanted to explore how a person decides who to listen to and whose voice is trustworthy? I wanted to find answers for the many consequential things that come up in life; to find trustworthy solutions I can turn to when important decisions need to be made. I thought about words that express feelings, occurrences, and situations that are common in life. I looked up these words in an ancient source and then wrote brief thoughts relevant to our contemporary circumstances. I believe the wisdom of this ancient source is important and enduring. I call my brief thoughts, Tweets - a term familiar to most people in our culture today. For some, my tweets might be a reminder of how they want to tackle issues; while for others, they might be the focus of introspection and additional study – a new way of looking at problems.
Tweets of Grace are anchored in God’s word, the Bible. They point toward the importance of managing our feelings; they describe God’s blessings to us; they suggest habits we should cultivate to ensure a good life; and they highlight life’s variables, over which we have little or no control. These offerings of grace are there to give us strength and help us make good decisions and choices so that we can have a life not marred with confusion, fear, and anger, rather, a life suffused with stability, peace, joy, and grace.

I pray that you will use these tweets to remember that God has answers, trustworthy answers, for the things we confront in life, whether we are in a pandemic, or any other situation common to life. I pray that you will find strength to tackle and overcome difficult situations and personal habits so that you can make good decisions despite the murky circumstances that may surround you. I believe there is a joyous, fulfilling life for you in the grace of Jesus Christ, and his word, the Bible, will teach you how to make the best decisions for your life.

toni kendrick