Last week, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released after six years’ detention in Iran.
She in now home with her family and it is hard for us to understand the full extent of emotions and challenges she will be facing.
But we know that her loving family are standing beside her and that they will do all in their power to help her move forward and make a new life, a happy and whole life despite the complications of separation and loss that have been so keenly felt.
Are there times when you have faced unimaginable problems and challenges? Are there times when you have wondered if you will make it through to see a better brighter future?
With the restrictions of covid, the horrors of war in Ukraine and the ever present stress and busyness of life we can feel that it is all too hard and our hopeful future is evading us.
But taking a lesson from the tenacity and struggle of both Nazanin and her loving family we can take heart – and we too can overcome in the most difficult of times. Love wins through.
The Christian faith teaches us to hold on to our faith in the overwhelming love of God, to the promise that there is a future for those who will put their faith and trust in the living God.
We have a large and vibrant Christian family, who love and care and support us in times of crisis and difficulty. These are the loving ones who can help us through.
In the Bible, we read of God’s good plans for those who believe and trust in Him.
“We know that in all things God works for good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28)
Would you like to reach out and receive that help from God, from your Christian family? Now is a good time.
The Revd Judith Wheatley is the minister of Anderson Baptist Church, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Reading
