By Pam Wang:
Going to church last Sunday, I was feeling extremely sorry for myself. When my family had made our commitment to Pastor Roscoe for the new church building, I had a job, we had savings in the bank and life was plentiful. A lot has changed since then! My job was phased out and effective January 2009 I will be unemployed for the first time in fourteen years. I went back to school, paying out of pocket because our income was too high to qualify for financial aid. To top it off, all of our cars have needed major repairs in just the past few weeks.
To be honest, I was worried. It was going to be hard to come up with the dollars we had committed to. After talking it over, my family decided to stand by our pledge and I nervously wrote out a check. While I was writing, I kept seeing the other places where those dollars could be used in our family. It may have been a small amount to some but it was huge to us at this point in time. I anxiously went to church, feeling pitiful and sad. I felt like I was carrying such a heavy load. I kept trying to push away the worry and to listen to Pastor’s words but I couldn’t get rid of the weight on my shoulders.
When it was time to receive communion, Pastor asked us to take a few moments to get right with God. Well, I gave God an earful. I let it all out, the worry, the stress, the guilt of having been laid off when my family needs me, and the money…always the fear about money. I finished my prayer and looked around at my church family. There was the single mom who was going to give everything she could. There were college students who probably hadn’t very much at all but had their envelopes in hand, waiting to go up and put them in the offering box. There were new parents, adjusting to a changed life, probably with extra bills to pay now. People, from the wealthy to the struggling, all stood to give their offering. As I waited in line to receive communion, I watched as person after person filed by the offering boxes, each dropping in whatever gift they could, all to give us a home…a place to be welcome…a place to worship…a home for NorthStar Church.
I saw my husband put our gift into the offering box and realized suddenly that my heart was light and my worry was gone. Christ had again worked his wonder in me and I had been given the eyes to see what was around me the whole time. Everyone has pain. Everyone has worry. Everyone is struggling with something in their lives. That’s why we’re here at this church. We’re broken in some way and need to be healed. We need each other and the love of Christ to get us through until our brokenness passes. And it will pass. The struggles are temporary and won’t last forever.
Our building though, our new home, will be a legacy to those that follow us. It’s laying down roots and Christ has brought each one of us here at this point in time to be part of this wonderful, glorious work. Our gifts, big and small, towards our new home, will come back to us tenfold and we will be blessed more then we can ever imagine. What better way to gather in his name than in a building that our church family worked as one mind and one voice to construct?
My troubles are nothing compared to my blessings. This is temporary. God is not. What a change of attitude I had received since I had first arrived! It was with a grateful, loving heart that I took communion with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am humbled to be a part of this church and I can’t wait to see what we can do together!
The total of how much we gave is going to be revealed on Victory Sunday, November 9. I think we’re going to be in awe of how much we raised together. I think we’re going to be astounded at the size of the mountains we can climb when we work together to climb them. Make sure to be with us to rejoice in how much closer we are to our goal!
“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”