Jan Randall tells how the prayer chain has stood with us through lockdown
I wonder how you have been in lockdown? I really enjoyed it … until I didn’t. Until not seeing my family, until not meeting Christian friends, until not being in church began to bite. My spiritual life took a beating, I found myself not able to concentrate on reading or prayer or Bible reading, or concentrating on anything really.
But somewhere along the way I realised that all I needed to do was to be, to rest on the rock that is my God and cry out to Him. I rested, knowing that prayer isn’t a formula, isn’t about beautifully crafted words, and I cried to Him, like a child who is miserable but unable to do anything to make herself better.
I think there has been a lot of crying out to God during this lockdown if my prayer chain experience is anything to go by. I keep a record of all the prayer requests that I am sent and the prayer requests have come in waves: one week, silence; the next week, flooded with prayer needs. In all of it, we have been aware of those who have been crying out to God, in confusion, in desperation, in sorrow, and the prayer chain have stood with them, lifting them into the gentle hands of our Father, knowing that he will listen to their cries, and comfort and resolve their needs.
There are almost 50 members of the prayer chain, connected electronically, ready to stop and pray when the cry comes. If you would like prayer, then contact me or the church office and we will send your request to that band of faithful pray-ers. If you would like to join the prayer chain, then contact me and I will put your name and mobile number or email address on my list and you can pray for those who request prayer. We aren’t super-spiritual; I think we are a band of folks who know the experience of finding that when all the familiar has gone, we are left with the solid foundation and tender arms of our God and it’s to Him that we cry.
Jan Randall, prayer chain coordinator
