My septimana horribilis

In November 1992 The Queen gave a speech at Guildhall to mark the 40th anniversary of her Accession.  In it, she referred to recent events as part of an 'annus horribilis' (a Latin phrase meaning ‘horrible year’).  Several events within her family that year had caused the Queen considerable anguish.  I failed miserably in my Latin exams at school, but I believe that aspects of the past seven days in my life could rightly lead me to describe the week as ‘septimana horribilis.’

Early last week we received news that our nearly 3-year-old grandson Max had been taken into hospital.  It was discovered that he had an extremely low platelet count, a condition which could be quite serious.  I visited him in hospital and prayed for him.  It seemed that he was making some progress, but then the following day his condition deteriorated.  His platelet count had dropped further, he was being very sick, and the medical staff were very concerned that he might be bleeding into his brain.  Of course, this could potentially be life-threatening.

Around the time this was all happening, I was working on my sermon for the following Sunday morning.  The theme was “Hope”, and the Bible reading was the account of the visit to Mary by the angel Gabriel in Luke1:26-38.  One element of the sermon was how this young girl, Mary, despite the shocking message given to her by the angel, was able to see hope for the future and reach out in faith to God, believing that the impossible would take place just as God had said.  She heard very clearly the angel’s words, ‘The Lord is with you.’

Mary had a choice, and she chose to trust God.  As I pondered her response, I found myself really challenged.  I had been into the hospital and prayed for Max, yet now he was getting worse and his young life seemed under threat.  I don’t mind admitting that I shed a few tears as I thought about the suffering of our beautiful little grandson.  When we are faced with really tough situations, we all have a choice.  We can give up on God, we can try managing in our own strength, or we can believe and trust God.  I knew all along that I couldn’t with any integrity preach what I didn’t believe, and I resolved to reach out to God in faith as Mary had done.  I thank God that Max is now home again, though his parents have been told to do what they can to keep him from hurting himself because of his condition (no easy task with an energetic youngster!)

The fact that later in the week I ended up in A&E myself, and had to have various tests, injections and scans, is another not very pleasant element to last week which I haven’t space to relate in full!  Thankfully I was ultimately given the all-clear.

Though in some respects last week was pretty horrible, I feel, nevertheless, tremendously blessed in many ways by the experience.  I have been reminded what an amazing family and very good friends I have, and that it is loving and supportive relationships which really matter in life.  I have been reminded also of the power of prayer; so many of our family members and friends stood by us during our difficult week, and we felt lifted on a wave of prayer.  And of course I have experienced again the love and faithfulness of God.  He doesn’t promise that life will always be easy or trouble-free, but he does promise in every situation we face, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’  And that makes all the difference in the world.