One benefit of being a non-native English speaker is that I learn something new about the language or the culture almost every day. Silverlining is a new expression I learned. I also like to call it: seeing God’s hand at work through hardships. I think I heard it a couple of times before, and someone may have even explained it to me in the past, but it took a global pandemic for me to understand the word in action. So friends, let’s talk about silver linings.

Church revitalization movements had been speaking about being a “church without walls” for years now, but these times are finally teaching us to put the concept in action. I am especially proud of our church and the ways people are stepping up to pray for others, to check on each other, to collect donations for others, and to gather around a screen to worship with their community.

The homeless situation has been ignored for decades and now finally the city in the County councils are moving people from the streets to sheltering rooms.

The family system in many countries has been at risk for decades and now parents have time to spend with their kids, and many other kinds of relationships are being rekindled.

Workers who were always essential to everyone’s survival are now gaining this is societal acknowledgment they always deserved: Waste management workers, grocery store workers, teachers who are performing double duties of raising and educating, truck drivers who spend days and nights on the roads, bank employees…

Our creative side has started to come out.: art projects, recording music, creative writing…

People are taking walks in their neighborhoods. my mom told me that she’s gotten closer to one of the neighbors who lived there for years, since every day now they walk and talk together.

My little nephew gets to work in the garden with his dad every day and my niece gets to see her parents who aren’t spending the whole day outside the house any longer. It is heartwarming for me to hear these stories of how people are making the best out of the situation. What about you? Any silver linings? Comment below and tell us about your life. Where have you seen God’s hand working lately?

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17