Since 2020 blindsided nearly everyone, how can you be more insulated and prepared for year two of Covid, and any other future surprises down the road? You’ve probably already thought of lessons you learned this year and how you want to strengthen values for next year, but it’s also good to assess what you’ll do spiritually to continue to recover from 2020 and be prepared for what lies ahead. Perhaps you can pick a few ideas from this article to get started.

Theology of Suffering

If you struggled to make sense of how God was working this past year, you could determine to investigate books or teachings on suffering in order to 1) quiet your doubts 2) increase your trust in Him and 3) receive peace in your heart. A few reading and listening options to explore are:

• Job, Psalms, Romans, 1 Peter
• Coronavirus and Christ – John Piper
• What About Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory” – Scott Christensen
• This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers – K.J. Ramsey
• “Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey” – Blaze Podcast Network

Mental & Emotional Rest

If this year caused you to have more thoughts and emotions than you could keep up with, scheduling tender soul care and a prevention plan for guarding your heart and mind throughout 2021 can lead to greater endurance. You might find nourishment in one of these book and online resources:

• Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners & Sufferers – Dane C. Ortlund
• With All Your Heart: Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will Toward Christ – A. Craig Troxel
• BibleStudyTools.com
• TheBrandSunday.com
• The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions 
• “The Heidelberg Catechism”
• A Diary of Private Prayer – John Baillie
• TheGospelCoalition.com
• Journey to Joy: The Psalms of Ascent – Josh Moody
• New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional – Paul David Tripp
• Prayer Portions – Sylvia Gunter
• The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name – Sally Loyd-Jones and Jago
• “He Restores My Soul Podcast with Jani Ortlund”

For Further Refreshment

There are so many ways to experience God’s peaceful Kingdom even in the midst of a troubled world. Don’t let all the ideas in this article overwhelm you; consider trying one new idea (or a variation of) every few weeks for good habit formation.

• Develop your spiritual gifting. Using your gifts to further His kingdom is most fulfilling.
• Protect regular times to be creative and establish certain spaces for music, crafting, etc.
• Have intentional, daily prayer walks in God’s creation.
• Join a prayer group that is serious about faithful prayer.
• Incorporate times of fasting from technology (choosing to take regular breaks from technology in a way that personally improves your mental health).
• Engage in lesser-practiced spiritual disciplines such as silence, trying different prayer postures, talking to God out loud and quietly listening for His responses, Scripture memorization, or singing hymns.
• Evaluate and protect your perspective so that you keep a focus on the living Christ and how He is always moving in your life.
• Examine the role of fear in your heart and how much it’s impacting your decisions and relationships.
• Have a repertoire of sermon podcasts that point you to a deeper focus on Christ.
• Read history and Christian biographies.
• Practice healthy stress management and include God in the details.
• Allow the Lord to show you where you have unconfessed sin that is harmful to your growth or your relationships (so you can receive forgiveness and the gift of repentance).

Biblical Literacy

If this year has made your head spin in terms of how little our society understands about God and His truth, you might want to increase your working knowledge so that you can share it with others. Some great resources include:

• “Help Me Teach The Bible with Nancy Guthrie” podcast – The Gospel Coalition (This is not just for Bible study teachers! It’s a great audio teaching on every single book of the Bible for anyone who wants to learn more)
• Matthew Henry’s Commentary (free on BibleStudyTools.com or BibleGateway.com)
• “Ask Pastor John” podcast – Desiring God

Ways To Help & Influence Others

Some of your loved ones may need you to hold their hand as they learn to move away from a worldly outlook to an eternal perspective. Here are a few ways to have impact:

• Read your Bible in front of family and others.
• Listen to an audio Bible while getting dressed or doing chores.
• Make it a point to talk about what God is teaching you.
• Encourage your loved ones to have accountability partners with others who are trustworthy brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Expose the lies of the world that contradict a Biblical worldview, and teach truth.
• Prioritize the method of prayer you believe could take you to the next level in your faith.
• Let others see the difference in you after you’ve spent quality time with Christ.
• Speak the gospel to yourself when you’re tempted to believe the world, so your friends and family see what that discipline looks like.
• Give full surrender to the Lord. The obedience, humility, and gentleness it produces in you will get the attention of others.

Experiencing Freedom in Christ

Shame, false guilt, culturally imposed rules, social media, anxiety, and heavy emotions are just some of the reasons you could be longing for a more vibrant relationship with the living Person of Jesus. To protect yourself from being shaped by the world, and to move toward being molded by God in 2021, here are a few paths you could take:

• Think of someone you know who walks closely with the Lord and ask him/her to mentor you. Or, if investing in regular counseling check-in appointments helps you achieve and uphold your goals, keep those on your calendar as a proactive measure. And you can also brainstorm with a mentor or counselor how to incorporate some of the suggestions from this article.
• Have a theme for 2021 and ask someone to join you and meet together regularly to share how it’s going. Some examples of “word-of-the-year: are:
  • repentance
  • worship
  • courage
  • forgiveness
  • healing
  • gratitude
  • trust
  • denying self
  • faithfulness
  • holiness
  • commitment
• You could change up the way you’ve been pursuing emotional and spiritual growth, and borrow ideas from those who are thriving in their faith.
• Be willing to reject any idols in your life and lies from your thinking so you can thrive in the Good News of the Savior.
• Even though Christian community is hard to pursue and maintain in a pandemic, seek and keep it anyway. 
• Ask the Lord to lead you to one of His promises to cling to for 2021. Memorize it, write it down where you see it throughout the day, and recite it frequently.
• Identify specifically how Satan views you as a unique threat to building God’s Kingdom, and work with your spiritual teammates to establish a spiritual battle plan. Together by God’s grace, you can overcome the enemy’s attempts to derail you and experience joy, contentment, and freedom in the days ahead.

“I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.” (Ps. 61:4)