This week, one prayer request sent to Prayer Circle stayed in my mind. It came from a mother whose husband is seriously ill. She asked us to pray for his healing, but also for God to change the thinking and direction of her children.

This mother and her husband have worked very hard, sometimes doing two or three jobs, to give their children a good education and prepare them for the future. Both children are talented, but both have abandoned their studies. One had already completed half of a university course.

Now this mother feels alone. She has worked, sacrificed, encouraged and prayed, but she is watching the future she hoped for slipping away.

Closed doors representing the private struggles carried by different families

She is not the only one

Behind many respectable-looking doors, there is deep suffering and terrible loneliness. Parents have lost their savings through betting. Alcohol and addiction are damaging homes. Mothers and fathers feel they are losing their influence over the next generation.

They may sit beside us in church every Sunday, looking as though everything is fine. Inside, they may be carrying burdens that nobody sees.

Hope cannot be merely a word we shout from the pulpit. Following Jesus must change how we treat people today.

Faith must become practical

The church cannot be only a building where people listen to preaching. Jesus noticed people, listened to them, touched the sick, fed the hungry and restored those whom society had rejected.

The Gospel promises eternal life through Jesus Christ. It should also move us to pray, listen, encourage and help make life more bearable for one another.

I am troubled when spiritual leaders become more interested in political influence than in caring for wounded people. I am equally troubled when politicians use God’s name and quote the Bible simply to win votes. The Bible must never become a ladder to power or a cover for corruption. Leadership in the church, politics or media is a responsibility to serve.

A Kenyan family praying together while listening to radio and digital media

Hope can enter a home

Programmes such as Prayer Circle give people a place to bring their burdens without shame or condemnation. Through radio, television and our digital platforms, Family Media can enter homes where people are suffering silently.

We can remind them that they are not alone, that God has not forgotten them and that there are people who will pray with them.