The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching

Day 34 – Saturday after Lent 5 – Nothing Is Impossible

To Read: 

From the Scriptures:

The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off his wrists. ⁸ The angel said to him, ‘Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.’ He did so. Then he said to him, ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.’ ⁹ Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. ¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’

¹² As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. ¹³ When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’  But she insisted that it was so. They said, ‘It is his angel.’ ¹⁶ Meanwhile Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the gate they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ He motioned to them with his hand to be silent and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.  (Acts 12v6-17)

From Vicky Beeching:

Nothing Is Impossible

You can shine light into the darkness
You can set every prisoner free
You can make streams flow in the desert
This is what we are longing to see
Because we know and we believe…

Nothing, nothing is impossible for You
Anything, anything can happen when Your power breaks through
Hear our cry for Your supernatural touch
God of miracles come and visit us

Come Lord, shine light into the darkness
Come Lord, set every prisoner free
Come Lord, make streams flow in the desert
This is what we are longing to see
Because we know and we believe…

Chorus – repeats

Come and visit us.  Come and visit us.

To Listen:     Nothing is Impossible by Vicky Beeching

To Reflect:

A slightly longer Bible reading today but we can’t leave the story of the release of St Peter’s Chains without adding the biographical note about Rhoda.  The person whose job it was to open a door but didn’t because she couldn’t believe the proof of her own eyes.

This is one of those wonderful passages of Scripture in which, when our Beloved does what was promised the faithful can’t believe the promise.

Surely, especially in those days soon after Pentecost when the Apostles discovered that they had indeed not been left comfortless (John 14v18 KJV), they might have begun to learn to expect the unexpected.  Or perhaps more correctly expect the long predicted?

Going right back to the beginning of our Beloved’s long walk for our redemption Jesus sets out His stall;

¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ (Luke 4v18-21)

Easy eh?  Not so.  We hesitate and seem to live dry lives that are imprisoned in darkness.  Sometimes this is because we learnt the faith through shaded eyes.  Remember the words of Amy Carmichaelfrom a few days ago?

‘When I was small I used to think that, if I wanted very much to do a thing, that thing was probably wrong.  And if I didn’t want to do it, it was probably right.  That is not quite fair to God, for His commandments are not grievous, not heavy and burdensome (1 John 5.3).

But we have a chance to change that.  Or as Amy would call it ‘A Chance to Die’^[i].  We stand on the cusp of Holy Week.  A time when the faithful down the ages have looked at what has held them back from following more closely.  A time of moving from the loneliness of Gethsemane to betrayal and imprisonment, from the darkness of a cross to the bright dawn of an empty tomb.  

Now is the time to look at all we do in our Beloved’s name and have one final spring clean so that come this day next week our eyes are bright with the light of God and our arms are set free and raised in praise of the name of the One Who Loves us Best.

To Pray:

To Do: 

Taking Tereas of Avila’s famous petition, ‘From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.’  Have a look at your regular prayer and worship habits and ask:

• Is there one personal devotion that has passed its Best Before Date that needs to be laid down?  Lay it down.
• Is there a devotion you have not tried because it is not part of your tradition?  Try it.

oooOOOooo

If you would like to find out more about Vicky and her work here is a link to her Wikipedia entry.  For a fuller picture her autobiography ‘Undivided’ is highly recommended

Please Note:  These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com  on Bluesky as @suffolkvicar.bsky.social, and on my public Facebook page  Suffolk Vicar – Rev Andrew Dotchin.  

If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to revdotchin@gmail.com

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Acknowledgements:

These Reflections, ‘The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beaching’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2026 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that their source is acknowledged.

All of the music on the video clips are from YouTube and are © Vicky Beeching.  

If you enjoy listening to her songs please consider buying her recordings.  A full discography and other information about Vicky can be found on her website vickybeeching.com.

Scripture quotations are from The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.  Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Prayers are from A Diary of Prayer compiled by Elizabeth Goudge and are copyright © 1966 The Estate of Elizabeth Goudge.

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^[i] For a review of Elisabeth Elliot’s book please read: https://rtim.org/book-review-a-chance-to-die-four-truths-amy-carmichael-taught-me/