I am aware of many friends and family members who are going through hard times. They are either in hospital, undergoing treatment, or struggling with various maladies of aging. Their bodies are not what they used to be and they suffer new ailments they never thought they would have to endure. I pray for them and dedicate the following to them.

I shall know why, when time is over,

And I have ceased to wonder why;

Christ will explain each separate anguish

In the fair school-room of the sky.

 

He will tell me what Peter promised,

And I, for wonder at his woe,

I shall forget the drop of anguish

That scalds me now, that scalds me now.

(Emily Dickinson)

Father God, I have struggled so with this anguish, and I am weary and heart-sick. I do not understand why you permit this suffering, or how it can enrich either the world or me. So now I cry to you as Jesus cried to you: Father if it may be so, take this terrible burden from me…

But Father, taught by him, more than anything I want to hold on to you, and be held by you, even through this. So as I struggle I ask above all that you be with me:

• holding me steady against the tides of anger and despair;
• giving me courage to bear with fortitude;
• strengthening my faith in your ultimate victory over all that has power to hurt us, disease and death, bereavement and loss, penury and betrayal, the unkindness of our fellows, and the vast impersonal forces of societies and nations.

And Father, do not let me be so trapped in my own pain that I cannot look outward to those around me, in compassion or thanksgiving. I pray for others who at this moment groan, or grieve, and ask that the comfort for which I ask may be theirs also.

And I thank you for all those who, by words or deeds of goodness and kindness, have come alongside me and shared my load. Be with them, and let my thanksgiving for them be taken up into your blessing of them. And keep us all safe from that which would destroy the soul. Amen

(Ruth Etchells)

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed, when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)