What Girls Get Wrong

Despite doctors’ differing opinions, the controversies and conspiracy theories, and the differing stories fed us by our governments and media, we can all agree on one thing: because of COVID-19, many people are suffering. For many, their suffering is caused directly by the virus. They’ve lost friends and family to it, or have seen their loved ones get ill, or have contracted the virus themselves. For many, their suffering is caused indirectly by the virus. They’ve lost jobs, had to postpone weddings, weren’t able to attend funerals, had graduations canceled, because of government policies enacted in response to the virus. For most of us on this earth, our lives have been affected in some way, ranging from inconveniences to devastation. There’s an old question, asked by many before, and I’m sure many are asking it even as I type these words. It’s a question which many people, not getting the answer they want, have used as an excuse to turn away from God, or doubt His e

A few months ago, I found myself struggling with jealousy toward my siblings. I’m not quite sure how to explain what I mean. I wasn’t jealous over what they had in their lives compared to me. There wasn’t a specific thing either of my brothers or my sister had that I wanted. Rather, I was jealous because their lives seemed to be going better than mine, that they escaped the struggles I have faced, the ones I still deal with (such as food allergies and health issues). This sounds horrible, like I want my siblings to suffer, to not have good lives, but I don’t. I mean...why can’t I just not suffer the things I do? Why can’t I have more good things in my life? It’s a struggle to write this, because I hate admitting it. I don’t want you to think I hate my life. I don’t. But at that time, I found myself upset that my life didn’t look as “good” as my siblings’ lives. I found myself asking why God had let this happen. What had I done that my life was so different from theirs? Di

Things always happen at the “worst” possible time. Ten days before Christmas, I got sick with the worst cold I’ve had in years (I’m just a few days over the aftermath). Seven days before Christmas, a new cat happened to pop into my life. A very young, very ravenous, very energetic, very curious, very messy male cat. I still had shopping to do, deadlines to meet, and projects to finish. One night, exhausted, having spent the day scrambling to get what I could done with my limited energy and time, the cat made a new mess for me to clean up, despite my best efforts to minimize the amount of messes he could make. I almost had a meltdown. I was so tired, so done, and struggling with the loss I’d sustained near Christmas years earlier. All I could ask was why was all of this happening all at once? At the worst possible time? The story of Joseph and Mary looks like a case of bad timing one right after another. Mary gets pregnant right before getting marri