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Viewpoint from Rev Suzie Ellis 26/09/2025

Rev Suzie Ellis
Ministry Team Member
St Andrew's Church, Gorleston

“More than six billion people share the burden of life. It helps to know that you’re no exception” (Madeleine Debrel)*. I wonder what you think of that. It certainly doesn’t seem particularly helpful. But it’s something I try to remember on those crappy days when nothing’s gone right, and I’m feeling more than a bit sorry for myself! It’s also been an important word to cling to in those times when a major crisis has hit me hard and everything seems to have fallen apart at my feet
 
You too may well know both types of experiences, because life isn’t always fair or easy. So when bad things happen to us, big or small, I believe it really matters to know that we’re not alone, that there are always others who can understand just where we’re coming from ... both in the big crises of life and for those days when life simply sucks
 
I’ve needed the love and support of many others in my darker times, and likewise it’s always been a privilege when others have shared their painful places with me. We’re not alone, despite what it may feel like, for there are always others who can understand and are willing to be a friend to us
 
Yet it’s also so much more than this. The bigger truth is that even the very worst of situations are never beyond the reach and help of God. I’m sure Madeleine too must have discovered this, for in 1924 as a brand new Christian she led a group of like-minded friends to provide counsel, prayer and practical help for the poorest and most deprived women within their wider community
 
Amid the increasing turmoil of today’s world, with so much desperate need all around us, it’s easy to feel there’s little we can do, that our own small contributions are useless. Yet over time and through the help and prayers of many other people, I’ve seen even hopelessly damaged lives be completely transformed. Some folk are now themselves supporting and helping others, and some have finally found inner peace from past troubles. It’s the power of knowing that we can all put out our hands in friendship and in prayer, and there WILL be help. We none of us have all the answers, but working together with God, like Madeleine, we too can make a real difference to those around us
* ‘The Little Monk’
 

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