Andy's story: "My Life & His Life"
I grew up in a quality, loving home with a great family and have never lacked anything that I needed. My life was good: I had great mates and a good future ahead of me. This was My life and nobody else’s. I did what I wanted and when I wanted; I was happy. From a young age my dream was football. If I wasn’t playing football I was watching it, and if neither of those I would be playing it on the computer. I loved it. Reality kicked in though, for the truth was that I would never make it as a player because I was not good enough. This used to really frustrate me as I knew that I would always have to settle for a lesser future than that of my dreams.
In my mid-teens I had a real dissatisfaction with my life in terms of where I was going and what I would be doing. I went to church every Sunday with my family and knew all the right answers to all the questions, but up to this point I had no intention of going in that direction myself. But I realised that God was on my case. I knew that there was something in me that understood that there was truth behind all that went on in church, and that I needed to experience it myself. I decided to make the choice to follow God and his plans, rather than spend a life living for me. This was the best decision I have ever made. The security I now had and the hope I had for the future far outweighed that deep dissatisfaction with the rest of my life. I no longer felt I was going to have to settle for a lesser future.
Since giving my life over to God I can safely say that he has transformed me. Still nowhere near the finished article, but on a journey that will take me there. I spend some of my time with a Christian organisation called Ambassadors In Sport and so am able to combine my love of God and my love of sport. I am getting to know my Heavenly Father more and more, and at the same time using sport to get to build things into the lives of others. This is something I never dreamed would be possible, and yet here I am doing it. The passage from the Bible below is now what I use to determine how I live my life: it is not for me but all about knowing him. I may not be a pro footballer but I am so satisfied with this life.
Philippians 3:8 “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
Liz’s story: “Every breath you take… I’ll be watching you”
As a child I was taken to Church each week. I thought of God and Jesus as being like my Welsh Grandparents – real, loving, but living a long way off. Then I went to a huge meeting at Earls Court. The speaker explained very clearly who Jesus was, how he had lived and why he had been crucified before being raised from the dead.
What had seemed irrelevant in the past made sense to me. God was suddenly very real and I was acutely aware both of how much he loved me and how much I needed his forgiveness. From then on I was conscious of his presence, and felt loved and accepted by him. I found it easier not to argue so much with my family, and to help my Mum more.
Several years later I was living in a Y.W.C.A in Hampstead, studying to be a Chartered Librarian. I wasn’t as close to God and didn’t go to Church or pray as much. I was surprised, then, when the thought of reading Theology came into my head. I didn’t want to do this, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. The more I tried to ignore the idea, the stronger and more frequent it became, and I was sure it was God. One night, angry and frustrated, I told God that if I got a place at Bristol University, I would go. I was amazed by the incredible peace I immediately experienced. So I went to Bristol where I gained my degree and met my husband! Then I went on to qualify as a teacher, before having children.
I believe God is real because at the saddest times in my life - the death of a sister, and both my parents, serious illnesses in the family – I have felt him comforting me. During the most challenging times of my life, such as returning to teaching at a very difficult boys’ school or watching a close family member in the grip of depression, I have had to rely on God, as I couldn’t cope alone. He has given me the strength to get through them, and I have again felt this amazing peace that, humanly speaking, didn’t make sense.
I can’t imagine life without God. With him, I feel secure and although life is challenging, it has purpose. I get things wrong but I know he will forgive me and that his love is unconditional.
Helen’s story: "Everything but Nothing"
I had a privileged childhood: rich parents meant I wanted for nothing. God didn’t come into it at all… I didn’t give God, the church or the Bible a second thought.
However I had a friend at school that kept on about Jesus and seemed so happy. She annoyed me but I couldn’t help liking her! She didn’t give up on me, despite my lack of interest in her favourite subject; ‘Jesus’. She kept inviting me to church and refused to give up.
One Sunday evening, when I was sixteen, I relented and to keep her quiet I went to church. I had never been to church before and expected it to be very boring. It wasn’t! The building seemed to be filled with this amazing love far beyond anything I had previously experienced. There was a man at the front speaking and I was riveted by the words he spoke from the Bible. It was as if Jesus was speaking to me. I realised I was separated from God because of my sin. I was aware of the things that were wrong in my life. But the preacher went on to say that Jesus had died on the cross so I could know God’s forgiveness and receive new life. He said that people could receive Jesus that night, but I was too embarrassed to do so at the front of the church.
But as soon as I got home I went to my bedroom and asked Jesus for his forgiveness and gave my life to him. Immediately I knew everything was different. I was a new person.
Since that Sunday I have had a great time getting to know Jesus. Even when I get things wrong I know he forgives me and still loves me. Whatever the circumstances of my life, I am surrounded by God’s love. Now I can truly say I have everything.
Rob’s story: "You’ll never walk alone…"
I was one of those who believed in God but never thought that I needed to do anything about it. I lived in my own little world of ambition: not ruthless and money-grabbing but just wanting the security and success of a good job, a nice house, and hopefully a loving family. But I struggled to make friends, and in moments of honesty with myself I knew that deep down I was very lonely.
All this went along quite nicely until, when I was 15, my Mum was diagnosed with cancer. My world and my plans hadn’t reckoned for that, and for the first time I thought seriously about what happens when we die. Maybe I needed to take eternity into account while I was living this life here and now.
At the same time as all this I had several friends at school who were Christians. I didn’t really know what that meant at the time, but it was clear to me that they all had something good in their lives that I didn’t have myself. Strangely enough I felt guilty when they were around me, but for a while I just pushed the guilt back down again.
Then one evening, lying awake in bed, I experienced a deep sense of the presence and reality of God, and realised that I needed to open myself up to his love. I resolved then and there to ask my friends if I could go with them to their Youth Group at Church. A week or so later I was at my first meeting, and I knew that I had found what I was looking for.
My way home that evening took me by a long, straight path, and suddenly I remembered a Bible story from Sunday School many years earlier. That spoke of “the narrow path that leads to life”, and I found myself very simply saying to God that I wanted to follow his path now, and asking him to help me. I told him that I was sorry for all the wrong in my life, and that I believed in Jesus to forgive my sins.
Life since then has had many highs and lows. My Mum died 2 years later and that hit me really hard, but what has grown over the years is the knowledge that I need never feel alone: firstly God has brought me into his new Church ‘family’, and most of all I know that Jesus has promised to stick with me and to help me every step of the way.
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