God is faithful during difficult times
“Bad stuff happens, but God is faithful.” The opening line to my first sermon, on my first Sunday at my curacy church. The church which I was joining quite unexpectedly was in the middle of a very trying and difficult season (what seemed like a million miles from the church I had visited nine months earlier). And in walks me and my family. I am not sure what anyone really expected to be honest. What I again found is that God is with the lowly, the broken and hurting. And that even though bad stuff happens, God is faithful, he is there in the midst of the mess and dirt. Fast forward nine months and the world is in the midst of strange and trying times, and yet God is still faithful.
The church we are a part of has become family, we are sharing downs and ups together, we are reaching out to our community and being honoured to be a part of people’s stories. On Wednesday our Food Bank again opened its doors, providing food for sixty plus people. But perhaps more amazing was the eight donations of food we received that same day – small and big. People’s generosity in the midst of crisis has blown me away and again reminded me that while bad stuff happens, God is faithful; and so his children, his wonderful creation keeps going, keeps giving, keeps loving.
–Revd David Thomas (Trinity 2019) is curate at St Paul’s and Church of the Good Shepherd, Hounslow West.
You can read the collected stories of God’s faithfulness shared during lockdown here.