Carol Purves

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist wasn’t able to speak for nine months. It is nine months since we have been able to speak and mix freely with others. It is three-quarters of a year since we have been able to sing in church. I wonder how our voices will sound when we are again able to sing together.

Whatever restrictions I do praise God that we can still worship our Saviour. Our heart goes out to those who do not have freedom to worship. I pray we may all come out of this time more willing to sing His praises and more fervent in our worship.

I do confess I pinched this thought from someone else. C. L. B. stands for Covid Lockdown Blues. The answer to the question is surely ‘yes.’ Wherever we are in the world, we have restrictions. we have limitations as to what we can do. And we are fed up with it. We do realise that our restrictions are saving lives, even if we don’t like them.

But let’s turn this around. Let us count our blessings. May we look upward to God and not look down to the struggles. Let us put our hand in the hand of God; He will guide us through. With His help we won’t only survive, we will thrive.

We are in a world where things change so quickly. New gadgets are out of date before we learn how to use them. The political world is changing all the time, so we never know what new regulations are being implemented at any one time.

We do give thanks to God, that He is unchanging, He has no new rules and gadgets. Nor do His laws change. His commandments stand for all time. He can never be out of date.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone.

Our lives should be full of thankfulness. Yes, we are in difficult times but there is so much to be thankful. I think I’ve told you before I keep a thankful book and note down my thanks each day. When I’m feeling down I can look back through the book. I have so many more things to be thankful for than I have time to write down.

Try writing down 20 thanks in one minute. A great exercise and so uplifting to the soul..

Because of warmer temperatures there is a fairly substantial mist this morning. I imagine driving in the countryside must be difficult. I can’t see the skyline of the city, but it is still there. It hasn’t disappeared because there is mist. The sun in not visible but behind the clouds it is still shining, it has not been turned off.

It is the same with God, He is still there even though we can’t see Him. We can see evidences of His love in nature and human kindness. Our knowledge of His presence does not depend on sight. We see Him by faith..

We can’t go to church, the cinema, a museum, concerts, theatres, other people’s gardens, other people’s houses, parties, etc, etc. But nothing can stop us praying, praying on our own, with others, praying day and night. We need to bombard the gates of heaven with our prayers of contrition and calls for mercy. We can’t do this pandemic alone, we need God.