I Am Rahab…OMICRON OMNIPRESENCE

Silvanie Gilbert

I had outrun every other variant of COVID. We had an established routine in the family, including masks, hand washing, sanitized groceries, and more. The slightest sniffle drew my full-on attention, supplements, and my mother’s island bush medicine routine. The boys grew to be more worried about my naturopathic vigilantism than any attack from COVID. I quickly became a germ expert and knew every proven way to kill them… and it was working.

We had been through a few waves of COVID already, yet everyone was still safe. But I was getting tired. I was tired of the routine and the worry. I was most tired of the constant stream of information that flowed from the television. Then came OMICRON, the latest presence of the deadly virus. Would we make it through this time? For the two years prior, my defenses prioritize healthy immune systems. Vitamin D levels…check, BMI levels…check, fitness routines and a personal trainer to get in shape… check, check, and check. I had an ample supply of every supplement recommended, plus some extra golden nuggets known only to the most serious natural medicine followers.

All in all, I could have opened a small storefront with my treasure trove of herbs, plants, extracts, and solutions on hand. We were as ready as we’d ever been. I knew we had no control over the virus itself, but I started to control how I reacted to it. So, I decided to take a pause. I turned off the television and the constant stream of doom and despair. Instead, I placed myself and my family in God’s hands. I could never do enough, but His OMNIPRESENCE would be enough. He would see what I could not see. He would know what I could not know. He would do what I could not do, and my faith would be all He’d require.

Just at the start of OMICRON, I suddenly lost a dear friend to the virus. She was a healthy, young widow with two young daughters. She’d told me just a week before that she was getting better and would be released from the hospital soon. That day never came. The news of that still runs through me like shards of ice. COVID was still present. But, our God is OMNIPRESENT! Even in the wake of her death, I felt an overwhelming presence of peace and a certainty that we would be okay. Everything came into perspective, like seeing the threat through new eyes. Although I maintained reasonable safety standards, I let go of the fear and anxiety attributed to it. 

When my son woke me that early Sunday morning, my hand… a mother’s hand, detected it before the thermometer could…105! I rechecked it, but the confirmation screamed louder…105, It was here! I launched into action, led by a steady stream of prayers carrying me the entire way to the emergency room. They tested him and confirmed it, then sent us home with Advil. I would have been a fool to put my faith in their hands. By the next day, my symptoms started. It’s amazing how the well-being of your children mutes any concern for your own. At the time, it felt like a superpower. In reality, it was a SUPERNATURAL power. My son continued to run high fevers for the next five days, with an added sore throat. But even in that, I saw God’s hand. The high fever was doing exactly what He’d designed it to do, helping to slow the spread of the virus just long enough for his immune system to catch up. At the end of five days, he was over it. I could tell because he was back to his usual way of climbing the stairs… two by two and three by three, in giant leaps and bounds. His brother followed with even more mild symptoms, barely noticeable in fact. I made my way through as well; a persistent bout with bronchitis was my biggest complaint. I was grateful, so grateful for God’s mercy in allowing us to prepare and protecting us from the wrath of grief the virus had imposed on so many families.

To God be the Glory! OMICRON may be deserving of the respect and caution it inspires. But, even in that…it is still no match for the OMNIPRESENCE of our almighty God. He wields the ability to be present everywhere at the same time. His all-knowing mercy is all we can trust. He knows all things and dwells in all places, even in the small places of OMICRON. He is the beginning and the end. He is sovereign and almighty. He IS the great I Am, and I am Rahab too.