BLESSING IN DISGUISE

Dear North Rockland Community,

Last Saturday was a day of blessing in the life of our church. We gathered together as a church family to give thanks to God as our new building was consecrated. Not only has the damage from Hurricane Sandy been repaired – a new fellowship hall has been added! I wasn’t with this church when the tree fell on its roof during Sandy. I can imagine that when that awful event took place, there must have been feelings of loss and maybe even despair. But as Rev. Plumstead said during our consecration service, without that damage we might not have this new and increased space. Looking back, then, this was a blessing in disguise.

Sometimes blessings come in disguise into our lives, too. As you look back, maybe you can see something that happened in the past that seemed bad at the time. But somehow you were able to come through the experience, to arrive at a better place. That’s how God’s grace works. The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12, “… I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

God’s grace is sufficient to help us make it through the bad times in our lives. The more we realize our weakness, the more we get to rely on God’s strength. So the weaker we are, the stronger we can become. Thank God for blessings in disguise.

Love and blessings,
Pastor Bernie Khaw