Struggling

The struggle to survive, to cope, with severe ME and  all its implications,  is profoundly difficult.

 Some people tragically choose to take their lives. We know from our experience that without spirit despair looms menacingly close. 

People, us included, are worn down by the need to constantly fight for everything.

What helps us more than anything is knowing that we are not alone, that Christ is with us, holding us in every moment of struggle, whether we are fully  aware of this or not. 

Brother Lawrence,  a 17th century mystic, writes so beautifully of the presence of God, with whom he spoke all the time. This gave him great confidence and strength that he could face any situation because the Lord was with him and that was what the Lord was asking of him.

Truly Christ is most present with the sick and disabled, the poor and the marginalised and has touched and  holds all pain, all struggle that we experience and knows it intimately.

As we reach out in prayer to others, so we too are touched and feel their pain and come to  care even more deeply for the hurt of the world and feel compassion and connection  for  those who struggle. 

As we   become immersed in the plight of those we pray for  we  too are touched by love and held by God. Christ's simple prayer, the Our Father   , is a wonderful gift to us all, helping us walk more closely in the way of God. 

Amen.