Is anyone among you in trouble?
Then pray.
Not because prayer is a lever
and God is a machine,
but because trouble reminds us
we are children
turning again
toward the Father.
Is anyone happy?
Then sing.
Praise is prayer
with its hands open,
naming goodness
while it is still before us.
Is anyone sick?
Then call the elders.
Let the community come close.
Let oil be brought,
medicine and sign,
ordinary and holy,
the care of hands,
the prayer of faith,
the name of the Lord spoken
over a body that cannot rise
by itself.
Sometimes God heals.
Sometimes the answer is no.
Sometimes grace comes
as recovery.
Sometimes it comes
as courage.
Sometimes it comes
as the peace
of being held
when nothing changes.
God is not obliged by us.
Still, God is good.
The surgeon scrubs in,
prays quietly,
and asks for guided hands.
The case looks impossible.
Then, somehow, life remains.
Not because she is good,
but because God is good.
We are not promised tomorrow
live in God’s influence.
And if one of you wanders
from the truth,
do not look away.
Do not polish your judgement
and call it holiness.
Do not confuse correction
with control.
Check your heart.
Sometimes we condemn most loudly
what we have not surrendered
in ourselves.
Sometimes we want power
more than redemption.
But do not ignore the wanderer.
Love sometimes walks
into difficult rooms.
Love sometimes says,
please don’t do this.
Love refuses to be polite
when a life is at stake.
The world may see us
like firefighters in smoke,
masked and frightening,
hard to recognise
as rescue.
So let our motives be clean.
Let our words be humble.
Let our courage be gentle.
Let our aim be life.
Sin creates
a culture of destruction.
But you create
a culture of life,
holiness,
and wholeness of being.
So bring us back
from all our wandering.
Bring us back
to prayer.
Bring us back
to one another.
Bring us back
to you.
Original message by Lou Fortier
The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW
5 July 2026
The Afterword 
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