VICAR

Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are coping with the current lockdown and that Your hearts are full of hope for the future. It is freezing cold outside and it’s too easy to feel despondent. For those of You not working from home, take care out there. It is tragic seeing so many lives lost to Covid.

This week I want to focus on healing. Prayers for healing can illustrate first-hand the incredible power of prayer. Through prayer for the sick and poor in health, we can find comfort in these most trying of times.

Luke 6:19
“And the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.”

Too often people mock the power of prayer as unscientific and the equivalent of a crank’s homeopathic cures. Yet even scientists are coming to appreciate the soothing power of prayer and its benefits for lowering blood pressure. On a more meaningful level, prayer is our means of communicating as Christians and We should treasure it whatever others say about ‘fairy gods in the sky’.

Try and focus on a time in Your life when You prayed for something and You received God’s blessing. Get back into that frame of mind. Repeat. Pray. Repeat.

If You are feeling sorry for Yourself, think of the Spring. Things will have improved by then. Think of those worse off than Yourself, like the poor man waiting yesterday for his family to arrive on the stricken Indonesian 737:

“Among those waiting at Pontianak Airport was father-of-three Yaman Zai, who had moved there from Jakarta for work last year. His wife and children, who had remained in Jakarta, were on the flight to meet him for a holiday, having not seen him for nearly a year because of the Covid lockdown.”

I know many people who are scared right now. There is no need to be scared. This is a time for calm and for being sensible. The numbers are on Your side if You behave intelligently. We just have to sit this time out. Lockdown will once again make some go stir crazy. Maybe, in between watching films and doing Your work, You can have a copy of the Bible alongside. Pick it up and read through the New Testament this lockdown. It will do You no harm. It will help calm worries about business or family. Read about how other generations were hit by plagues and made it through. Things will improve. Trust in God.

I wish You a peaceful Sunday and a good week ahead. God Bless You all.

Lord, I come before you today in need of your healing hand.
In you all things are possible. Hold my heart within yours, and renew my mind, body, and soul.

I am lost, but I come to you with grace.

You gave us life, and you also give us the gift of infinite joy. Give me the strength to move forward on the path you’ve laid out for me. Guide me towards better health, and give me the wisdom to identify those you’ve placed around me to help me get better.

In your name I pray,

Amen.