Never Forgotten

READY

“God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.'” -- Hebrews 13:5-6

SET

One of the wheelchair rugby players in the team where I serve as a chaplain told me the details of how, as a result of an accident, he had become quadriplegic, which is affected by paralysis in all four of his limbs.

Many years earlier, when away, with some friends on a road trip to a beach, he and his mates jumped straight from the vehicle upon arrival and ran straight down to the seashore and dived into the sea. Unfortunately for this one player, the spot that he dived into, which was slightly off to the side from the others, concealed a submerged, raised sandbank. Upon hitting the water (and the hidden sandbank), he was aware of his head being thrown violently back as his neck was immediately broken.

He described to me how he instantly knew that something was seriously wrong as he could not feel his legs or arms. And what was worse was that he was now lying face down in the water unable to turn himself over to breathe. He told me how he began to wonder if this was to be the end for him, as he was aware that he was not immediately near to his friends and didn’t know if they had registered what had happened to him and that he was in danger of drowning.

He was acutely aware of the seconds passing and was nearing the point of accepting that this would be how his life would end prematurely. Just as he began to lose consciousness he was jolted back awake as one of his friends turned him over, picked him up, and carried him to the beach. Since that fateful day and with very many hours of rehabilitation, this player now leads a very independent and fulfilling life, including being a first-class defensive wheelchair rugby player.

In the Bible, God says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Our Heavenly Father is good even though His goodness sometimes permits hardships and great trials to come into our lives. Such is His goodness and faithfulness that He promises never to abandon us but to be on hand to be our helper and rescuer when we call out to Him during such trials. For sure, there will be times in our lives when we will feel afraid, on account of all sorts of things. The Bible says that “Perfect loves casts out all fear” (1 John 4:18) and that “God is love" (1 John 4:16).

Therefore, we can be sure that with the God of love as our helper, our fears can be brought down to manageable proportions and we can continue in, through, out, and beyond all challenges and hardships.

GO

• Spend some time in unhurried quiet:
  • Identifying one or two things that have a pattern of causing you to fear and have anxious thoughts.
  • Memorizing this prayer: "Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me and before me. Christ beside me, Christ to help me, Christ to comfort and restore. Power to guide me might hold me. Wisdom teaches me, watching over me. Ear to hear me, hand to guard me. Love to conquer my every fear."

WORKOUT

Deuteronomy 20:1; Isaiah 43:2; John 10:11-15

OVERTIME

Having memorized the prayer in the GO section above, now pray it before you go into the next part of your day. And then, begin each new day of this coming week by including this prayer in your morning prayer time.