COVID- 5 Years Later..What did I learn?
My Plan vs God's Plan
It was March 2020. I was working at a TV Network with a stable job and I was making plans. Helping my friend’s boyfriend with his plans to propose in April, gearing up to perform in a play with Public Assembly at the end of the month, all while preparing for the world to see me in my first TV Movie! If that wasn’t enough on my plate, I was also a minister in training at my church, faced with a choice. The Church was going on a trip to London, but going on this trip would mean missing the premiere of my TV movie debut. As a recovering people pleaser, I remember feeling so conflicted between going to London or staying in LA. Wrestling between ‘duty’ as a member of leadership and the perceived idea of the launching pad to my break into the industry in a real way. After much deliberation, I decided that my TV debut only happens once.
The Pastors left overseas and those of us who stayed behind were called to step up and lead service in their stead. I went shopping with my cousin to look for outfits for the premiere. I wanted to look and feel my best for this moment. I was finally going to be on TV, in a movie, and with my best friend at that.
As Covid cases continued to rise in the US, whispers began at the office of a possible shutdown. Our church family had to rush back from London after only being there for 2 days, to make sure they didn’t get stuck there. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and on March 13, 2020, offices closed, students were sent home and we were ordered to quarantine.
When I envisioned March 14th, 2020, I thought about walking down the red carpet, I thought about the world finally seeing my talent and what I am capable of. Instead, I was in my friend’s living room with my bubble watching my tv debut at home. The world was full of fear and the unknown. We had no idea how long the stay in place order would last.
Here I am, five years later, on March 15th, 2025, sitting in the abundance, increase, and favor of God that I couldn’t see, plan, or prepare for. There were many losses and disappointments along the way. Now, there is life before Covid and life after Covid. It seems as though anything around 2020 doesn’t have a clear timeline. It’s all so blurry. During the pandemic, I had Covid twice, lost sense of taste, smell, shortness of breath, and brain fog.
The pandemic made our world smaller. We had our small bubble. We celebrated occasions on Zoom, disconnected from people and reconnected with others. We picked up hobbies, deferred dreams, and cooked and drank more than we would like to admit. We gained weight, lost weight, and did our best to keep our sanity. In the last 5 years, I’ve lost loved ones, went to therapy, tried online dating for the first time, took VoiceOver classes for animation, Shakespeare, and so much more. Hollywood never went “back to normal” and I put down the fear of sharing my voice and started to write again. I attended my first open mic virtually with
. (My journey with my poetry deserves it’s own substack post.) I created and wrote a pilot with my friends, I got a development deal and then that dissolved due to the strike, and I pivoted and became a published author.
When I think about my five-year plan, a licensed minister and Pastor were not in it. In 2020, major shifts and changes happened. In August of that year, God led me to take the women’s Bible study I was leading on a pilgrimage to the Sequoia National Forest. In October I became a licensed minister, and what God has done in just the office of ministry in these last 5 years can fill up several Substack posts.
There are so many stories. There have been so many wins and so many redirects, but these last 5 years have taught me so much.
Here are a few:
No more 5 year plans. God laughs at those. Live a life fully surrendered to his will and his way. Pray for discernment to walk out God’s plan and the endurance to keep going because the opposition will come and fight you tooth and nail.
Community is vital to your spiritual, physical and mental well-being. So keep wise counsel around you.
I can do hard things.
Be Present. Life is worth Living!
There’s no valley low enough or mountain high enough that God won’t stop working things out for my good.
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