Last week I worked my last few days for Cumbria Alcohol & Drug Advisory Service (CADAS).

Spending a lot of time alone, driving round Cumbria to say Goodbye to staff and volunteers, I suddenly sank into self-doubt. It spiralled quickly downwards on the night before my last day – doubts about the work that I’d done, the relationships I’d built, my ability to hand over, extending quickly to my entire working life and every relationship I’d ever known. 

A serious spiritual attack.

Desperate not to spoil my last day caught up in my internal battles, that night I asked two good friends to pray for me – that I would ‘end well’ at a place where I have always felt privileged to serve beside such compassionate, wise people.

At the Carlisle office next morning, I was only just holding things together. 

A colleague saw just what I needed. She led me into her office and sat me down. ‘I just felt God wanted me to pray for you,’ she said.

Almost as soon as she started to speak, tears of relief welled up and spilled down my cheeks. 

The spirit of despair lifted. I knew once more that I was ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ by the God who ‘hem[s] me in, behind and before, and lays [His] hand upon me’ (Psalm 139).

I left her office with my cheeks damp and my peace restored, ready to end my time at CADAS well. 

Friends, let us never stop praying for one another.

Lois Sparling, St George’s, Kendal, Beacon Team Mission Community