Faces on Faith: Grace abounds
As with many on the island, our Chapel by the Sea on Captiva suffered significant damage from the recent hurricanes. In particular, the chapel saw large amounts of sand pile up on chapel grounds, rising even to the steps of the chapel, the chapel office, and the parsonage, along with a minimal amount of water intrusion. However, considering what others have experienced with their homes, businesses, and places of worship, we realize in the grand scheme of things how fortunate we were. As bad as the situation was, it could have been much worse.
You may have been wondering, as have I, how best to process these developments as a person of faith. My first response in times like these is to lean on the sufficiency of God’s grace. Grace, after all, is the supernatural resource that holds life together precisely in those moments when everything around us seems to be coming apart at the seams. While initially we experience grace as pardon from sin, as we Christians grow in the “grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,” we also come to experience it as a power from on high — one that does for us what we could never have done for ourselves. In other words, grace enables us to look all adversity in the face and see even in it hints of divine glory overshadowing it so that we rest on the promise that as with every type of life’s storms, “This too shall pass,” a blessed assurance which enables us to emerge from the adversity a stronger, more resilient people.
So, as you think about how best to proceed in the face of the setbacks you may have encountered in these recent days, I invite you to join me in celebrating the grace that abounds in the face of it all. And I also ask you to consider how you might extend that grace to others also affected by the storms, especially those who are feeling powerless, discouraged, and defeated.
Here are some suggestions. First, pray earnestly for those who face the challenge of putting their lives back together. Prayer is always the first step toward preparing us to change seemingly impossible situations. Secondly, contact those you know who may have been in the path of the storms and ask them how they’re doing and how you might be of help. Just a word of encouragement will do more than you can ever imagine. Lastly, consider contributing to relief efforts either through a reputable national agency, a regional relief fund, or one of the many faith communities extending tangible support. At the end of the day, your resources, joined with others, will have a life-changing impact.
And so, faith is what each of us needs when life takes a turn for the worse, as life too often does. And grace is God’s provision to help our unbelief. Like all divine provisions, grace cannot be exhausted. So, consider how you might lean upon it now so that you might learn for yourself how grace will never disappoint.
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh … 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.'” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
The Rev. Dr. Doug Dortch is the pastor at the Captiva Chapel by the Sea.