. . . To New Life

Posted at 12:09pm on 24th August 2023

Diana completed the record of her last client, switched off her computer, and leaned back in her chair. Counselling Michael – Mike, as he liked to be known – was not without complications. Never before had she been called upon to resolve the difficulties faced by a farmer, despite the fact that she'd lived and worked in in the countryside for some years.

'It's this foot and mouth disease,' he'd said, wringing his hands as he spoke. 'It's spreading all over the place. And it ain't just cows.'

'So is this why you've come to see me?' Diana asked when Mike fell silent.

'I wish!' he said. 'My missus can't cope with it anymore. Says she's gonna leave. Says I don't care about her any more. Only about my animals.'

Doing her best to lead Mike on to the right path, Diana had consoled him and suggested that it might help if he asked his wife to come and see her so that she could guide the two of them to come to terms with the situation, and weather it through.

I need to learn more about this disease, she thought, when Mike had left. Thank goodness she'd purchased a computer, recently. Opening it up again, she typed in a search. What she read was shocking. It seemed that the disease had been spreading across the country for some months now, and was affecting cows, sheep, pigs and goats. Whilst not always fatal among adult animals, they suffered badly, and could be left lame, and infertile, forever.

'Oh, my goodness,' she said aloud to the empty room, gripped with fear at the thought of how that would affect food production in the country, not to mention the mental health of the farmers.

Scrolling through the statements on the screen, she learned that more than 10,000 farms were thought to be affected and that the impact on British agriculture would be devastating. Many young animals had already died and, worse still, culling and burning those that were affected was thought to be the only way in which to bring the disease under control.

'Where is that going to leave people like Mike and his wife,' she thought, imagining the suicide rate that would follow.

Tossing and turning in bed that night, Diana found that sleep eluded her.

'What is the answer, Lord?' she prayed, earnestly. 'What can I do to help? What do you want of me?'

At five o'clock in the morning, she got out of bed, put on her dressing gown, and went downstairs. Once in her office, she switched on her computer.

'No, that's not going to work,' she thought, raising the collar of her dressing gown to combat the cold. With computers a relatively new invention, few farmers were going to own one. Telephone's the only way, she concluded.

A week later, Mike returned, with his wife, Lucy. And within a few weeks, Diana had convinced her that the only way to deal with her feelings of uselessness, and lack of value, was to help those in need.

'We'll form a team, you and I,' she said.  'That way, we can ring the local farmers and let them know that we're here to help. Not physically, but mentally. Tell them I'll be praying for them, as individuals. And if they need counselling, I'll be happy to give them a ring, and help them in that way, with no cost involved.'

Months later, when the killing of over six million cows and sheep had brought the disease to an end, Lucy approached Diana once more.

'H'ow can I ever thank you enough,' she said to Diana. 'You really showed me what was missing in my life. I'm not gonna leave Mike. I love him more'n ever.'

Diana breathed a sigh of relief, and reached out to touch Lucy's hand in a gesture of empathy.

Lucy grinned.

'All the farmers we've been helping have said I should go into ministry in the church,' she said. 'Cos I was such a help to them, they want me to help others. So, I'm gonna train to be a Vicar,' she told Diana.

And so she did!  In a matter of years, she went from utter despair to new life.

THIS, LIKE THE PREVIOUS POST, FROM NEAR DEATH, IS A TRUE STORY, BUT ALL NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE IDENTITIES OF THOSE CONCERNED. 

Over 6 million cows and sheep were killed in an eventually successful attempt to halt the disease.  It took more than seven months of culling and burning to bring the disease under control and the impact on British agriculture was devastating. Nationally, more than six million pigs, cattle and sheep were slaughtered on more than 10,000 farms before the disease was brought under control by the end of September.

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