In the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic, my personal story of our family’s survival of the 1957-1958 Asian Flu comes to mind.

We were totally unsuspecting of the looming threat of the H2N2 (Asian) Corona Virus in those days or its deadly consequences for many victims (116,000 estimated deaths in the U.S. and 1.1 million globally per CDC).  My parents may have thought that we dodged a bullet when we did not catch the Asian flu on the first wave of the pandemic.  Despite the fact that we lived in a mountain community with a population of only hundreds of residents and our homes were very spread out, our family of four caught the virus on its second wave.  I was only seven or eight years old at the time and my memory is a bit sketchy, but Mom thinks that Dad became infected at work.  He worked in close quarters on an offshore oil drilling rig off the coast of Gaviota, California, on a weekly crew rotation.  The crew also car-pooled to and from the job for about a hundred miles.  Mandatory quarantine of flu cases was not practiced in those days – at least to my knowledge.  If you were so sick that you could not function, a person or family just stayed home in bed and did the best they could.  In fact, I don’t remember the government doing much of anything about the Asian flu pandemic – except of course the CDC worked on a vaccine.  Far different today!  Our current COVID-19 global outbreak is impacting modern society as never before in history.  We are all painfully aware of the details, so I won’t go into that now.

Back to 1958:  The virus quickly spread to the rest of our family and we were so stricken with symptoms that we were debilitated.  It was nearly impossible for our parents to care for themselves and us kids – so much so that we all had to retreat to our parents’ bedroom.  We couldn’t get out of bed or survive in our own rooms because our parents were too weak to check on us.  Dad crawled to and from the kitchen in order to bring us food and water.  Mom says that Dad’s employer sent around one of their company nurses to check on Dad.  She visited us daily for about four to five days and that got us through the worst of it.

We also survived other flu epidemics over the decades including the Swine Flu of 2009-2010 (60.8 million cases with 12,469 deaths in the U.S.).

Presently during this CORVID-19 pandemic our family members are isolating in our respective homes.  I detect a more rapid maturing process going on with my granddaughter and grandson who live in our area.  They are in the 20 – 30 age range and are helping each other more by sharing necessary supplies, communicating more with their parents, while working their essential jobs.  My granddaughter is making batches of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and other sanitary homemade concoctions.  A week ago she would have never considered any of this as important.

I am proud of how the family is pulling together in dark and uncertain times.  We are all symptom free of the virus at this time, and pray daily for God’s grace and mercy on those who are battling the illness and for the families of those who have died.  Historically, every member of our family who lived in close proximity with each other caught the corona virus epidemic of the time, but we are trusting in the LORD for protection from this pandemic.  We can do little on our own except for isolation, prayer, and faith.

My encouragement today is just trust in the LORD no matter the situation.  He is our Comforter over fear.  Remember our roots in following God’s plan of the Gospel of Jesus Christ versus selling out to social pressures that leave God out of our lives.  Be a good neighbor and do the best you can.  We will get through this, but there is a cost.  Press in to God and stand strong in faith that He will shorten the time and help heal our land if we only repent and turn back to Him.

⁷”Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. ⁸For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but My righteousness will be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation.”  ~ Isaiah 51:7-8 NKJV

For thus says the LORD: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”  ~ Isaiah 52:3 NKJV

God bless and keep you all free from harm or illness and thank you for following Importantstuff.Live.