My story by Sue

My parents didn’t go to church but they sent my sister and I to Sunday school as it seemed to be the natural thing to do when we were young! After I was confirmed at 13 years old, my parents said it was now up to me to decide if I wanted to believe in God and go to church or not! I went to church a few times on my own but stopped when one Christmas I understood the vicar to say it’s no good coming to church only at Christmas you need to come every week, so I didn’t go anymore. However I always believed in God, but He always seemed a long way off.

My sister was more involved in the church but things were said to her at the church camps which scared her, so she stopped going to church until she met her husband at 16 and she went to the Catholic church and became a catholic. She used to talk to my Mum and I about the Holy Spirit and talking in tongues and we thought she was mad but listened as we were a close family and we loved each other.

In my late twenties when I worked in London, a friend from work asked one of the girls I was friendly with if she wanted to go to church and she went (she became a Christian many years later). I made it known that I was a little upset that he hadn’t asked me, so he took me to lunch one day and challenged me about my belief in God. God used several more ways to catch my attention, one being when my future husband John came on the scene, I was so happy I found myself saying thank you to God, and then something changed in me and my interest in God started to grow.

Just after we were married we went to Belgium to stay with Johns family (his Mother is from Belgium). Johns Uncle was very ill with sclerosis of the liver and I knew I would never see him again. It made me realise that there must be much more to life, so I went to my sisters on the first Sunday I was home and said I wanted to go to church with her. I also started reading Christian books and after reading ‘When the Spirit comes’ by Colin Urquart on the train travelling home from work, I sat

in my car and asked Jesus to come into my life.

For about two years the first thought I had every morning when I woke up was that God was real and that he loved me. I expected God to do something everyday in a Christians life and when I asked another Christian man at work what God had done in his life that day he looked at me as if I was mad. It was then I realised my enthusiasm was not shared by everyone and that it is up to us how much we want God to be involved in our lives. I had started to read my bible every day and I wanted God in everything I did. I think I drove my non Christian  friends up the wall as I wanted them to find what I had found, I am pleased to say many of them have since become Christians and I didn’t lose any!

My Mother became a Christian about a year after me. My cousin became very ill at the age of 30, and Mum said to God that if He kept her alive and made her well she would believe. Well my cousin didn’t die until 25 years later, and Mum turned to God and found herself reading the bible constantly until she died also 25 years later. Mum had become very involved with the church, she was my best friend and we prayed together often for our family and friends.

Over the years my Dad listened to my Mum my Sister and I as we often spoke about Jesus. He told us we were too fanatical about our faith but he always prayed for parking spaces. Two weeks before he died he asked Jesus into his life and he believed that Jesus would either heal him and he would go to church with Mum, or he would go to be with Jesus. He had a peaceful death with us around him and I saw him lift his hand as Jesus took him home.

I never thought I would cope with losing my parents but God did amazing things in both of them during their last days. He has proved to me without a doubt that He will never let me down.

If reading this has made you wonder where you stand with God, you can do something about it right now.

Here is a simple prayer that will help you to be sure that your sins are forgiven:

Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you that you died on the cross for me. I am really sorry for all the bad things I have done in my life. Please forgive me and clean up my life. I ask you to come into my life, help me to live it from now to please you, and be a real Christian.

Be sure that you tell someone, if you have said that prayer and really meant it, and find a Bible-believing church, or an Alpha Course to learn more about Jesus.