Well, this is a tricky one. Here is your challenge, George, should you accept it. Write a brief (I can easily get carried away) story about your 'journey to faith'. I do accept it. Gladly. Any opportunity to share how God has changed my life, I relish. I will start off where it all began. At the age of 16 (in 1996) I had an experience that left no doubt in my mind that the love of Jesus was very real indeed. However, as I am sure you can imagine at 16 years of age I had other more 'important' things on my mind. I thought to myself, "well one day I will go to Church and become a full-time Christian". Looking back on my views of Christianity does make me chuckle. Anyway, I put all 'Church stuff' on the back-burner for another day. I wanted to lead my own life, I didn't want to commit myself to anything, let alone a list of do's and don'ts that I thought Christians follow. Thanks to God's free will I did lead my own life. My upbringing was fairly 'easy', allowing me to stroll through life at my own speed. There were good times and not so good times. But overall I felt there was something missing. Fast-forwarding 11 years, my life took a nose-dive to say the least. I faced challenges and changes in my personal circumstances that I felt I could not overcome. I reached lows that I never knew existed. This was territory that was uncharted for me. It felt like there was no way out. I could not see the wood for the trees and I was totally lost. Roughly 6 months later I felt motivated to stay with some Christian friends, who happen to be my previous local vicar and his wife who were friends of the family. That day they prayed over me and asked for the Holy Spirit to come. The release of emotion was huge. I uncontrollably blubbed like a baby. I consumed a box of tissues in record time. It was that moment, with all my heart, that I invited Jesus into my life. The sense of relief was massive. I knew this was the start of something big. Since then I have grown as a person in so many ways. My outlook changed. I decided to do an Alpha Course at St Nicolas which gave me an opportunity to learn about God, ask questions, meet other like-minded people and to share my experiences. The course lasted 10 weeks with one weekend away learning about the Holy Spirit. It became clear to me how important it is to mix with other Christians and to share one's faith. Following Alpha I started going to the 6.30 service at St Nic's every Sunday. There is a lovely family feeling and it's a great time to worship God. To briefly sum up how God has changed my life is not easy. My life has not suddenly become a bed of roses, but there has certainly been a great deal of positive change. Knowing that Jesus is with me every step sheds a different light on everything. God has a future for me, and that gives me a great sense of hope and peace. I feel more free and liberated than I ever have done which was totally unexpected. But the biggest change has been in my heart. I have now found that missing jigsaw piece. Go on, let Jesus into your life. After all, just think what you could gain, and there is absolutely nothing to lose. |
