|
|
This is the testimony, such as it is. I was born in December 1945, the only child of elderly parents, and was a very delicate infant. Although I was christened in the Anglican Church, my parents were not church goers. When I was about 4 years old, we took in a lodger, who was a committed Christian, and a teacher at the nearby Baptist Church Sunday School. Partly to give my parents a break, she took me to most services with her, and for many years, even after she married, I attended that Sunday School, and Junior Christian Endeavour on Tuesday nights. Later on I joined the junior church at out local Anglican, (Episcopalian ) church. This was partly because this was where most of my friends at school went, the Baptist Church being in the opposite direction to the school. A change of school led to my going to Kings Own at the mother church of the one I had previously attended. These were some of the best years of my early Christian life, with lots of basic teaching and fellowship. However, a change of leadership, coupled with a change in attendance policy meant that in my late teens my attendance dropped off significantly. I was studying for public exams, and had other interests. Although I still believed, it just wasn't very important. I did go to other churches, to try to find one that suited me better, but the attempt was somewhat half hearted. I was fortunate in that my RE teachers at school were all Bible believing Christians, so I got a lot of teaching there too. Through the church we also had weekends away at Mabledon, a Christian Conference Centre nearby, and Youth Squashes, with Fact and Faith films after the Sunday night service, where I was living then, it was the norm for teenagers to be Christians, incredible though that might seem these days. Those who had not accepted Jesus were the odd ones. I have to say that a lot probably lapsed in later life, but it was true at that time. After school came work in London, my engagement to Derek, (who had also been a member of the same church some years before), and the trauma of the sudden death of my father. This same church was VERY supportive at this time. (My mother had become quite an active member in it), but I'm afraid my somewhat apathetic attitude remained. I believed the Lord had called my father home because he was tired, but I was not happy at being left with my far from easy to live with mother! We had not got on particularly well before my father died, and we certainly did not afterwards. This was partly why I felt I had to marry sooner rather than later. Otherwise I had visions of mother breaking up my engagement, and then taking to her bed, so that I would never get away. As it happened, she remarried three weeks before my own wedding, and was in fact widowed twice more, and married yet again before her death. Like I say, not a very easy lady! After our marriage, we moved to Teynham, a few miles from where we now live. Although we did attend church sometimes, we found it difficult to adjust to a rural church, where the congregation was never more than a handful of people! We had always been part of large churches, and this was just too much! The years went by, and nothing much happened, except we seemed to be unable to start a family. One night I simply prayed that I didn't even mind having a daughter, if only I could have a baby. I was pregnant with my daughter Mery within the month! (I suppose I should say here, that so far as my mother was concerned, I should have been a boy. She never got over the disappointment of her only, and life threatening pregnancy resulting in the birth of a girl!) I'm actually married to someone whose mother wanted girls, and not boys! I didn't have a easy pregnancy with Merywen, and I was encouraged by the fact, that Derek, my mother, and others prayed for us. Almost two years after my beautiful daughter was born, I gave birth to our son Martyn. My church attendance was still spasmodic. I still prayed every day, but rarely even glanced at my bible, a although we had asked committed Christians to be both children's Godparents, and we tried to give both of them a basic Christian Education. By the time my daughter started school there was a new, enthusiastic vicar at the church, who started holding Sunday services in the school hall, (much nearer than the church). This, coupled with the friendship of a neighbour who had a sincere faith, helped me to start taking my faith a bit more seriously again. I even started going to Bible study groups, sometimes. We then moved here, and in some senses it was a step back again. By now I was a mature student, studying for a degree, and again, I came under the influence of Christen lecturers, although I was not studying theology!!! After my degree came teacher training college, where the enemy threw a spanner in the works by making my principal tutor a new ager! Oh dear. He really didn't approve of me, even though I wasn't overtly witnessing at all. I tried teaching for a while, but it took up too much time that I needed to spend with my family. For some years I did part time lecturing jobs, one of which bought me into contact with Stella, who is still one of my spiritual "mothers". (The other is Joyce). As a result of prayer I got my current job. I've work there for 15 years nearly. It suits me, as even my day off is my Lydia day! I work on my own, so my witness there is to do my work faithfully and well for the master, and not waste my employer's time, or breach his trust! During this time, our daughter was very seriously ill with appendicitis, and she really only started to recover when the mission started to pray for her. We were not attending the Mission then, although the children went to its Sunday School, and weekday clubs. With changes in school the children also both went to the Anglican church. There I met another Christian, who was interested in studying Theology. (She in fact did, but never did a degree). Through her, I started to attend a weekly prayer group, and gradually became more involved in the ministry of prayer, culminating in my becoming involved in Lydia. By now, my husband was back slidden - didn't even know if he believed in God. At a Lydia meeting in Canterbury, one lady was so moved by this situation, that, despite the fact that he own husband was dying of cancer, she undertook to pray for my husband's return to The Lord. He returned the following Easter. ( I was unaware of this ladies prayers at the time). For some years, as a family we attended a weekly Christian Camp near Canterbury, until the children were too old to want to go any more. Our son was confirmed in the Anglican church, but the service was so dreary that I found myself asking The Lord if I needed to stay there. The answer came that I did not. So, I eventually ended up at the mission. This showed God's timing, as not long after this two things happened: Derek seemed to be running out of work, and we did not know where to turn. The pastor, and some of the unofficial eldership prayed about the situation, and by the following Tuesday, it was obvious that Derek should be working for himself. At the time, I was sleepless with worry, but The Lord pointed out during this time, that Christ had walked down the road to Calvary, knowing full well what to expect, and my fears were of something so inconsequential in comparison.It was real to me, but I had to view it in the light of Christ's sufferings. Since then The Lord has always provided work, or enough money for us to live on, and I believe He always will. Having said that, we still plan to retire at the end of next year, which will give us more time to spend in The Lord's service, as well as with each other. The other thing that happened was the death of my mother. We had been estranged for a number of years after her fourth marriage, as I felt she had acted too hastily, out of loneliness, maybe, but we had become reconciled to some extent. The church supported me during this time, as there were numerous problems that she had left behind, ad we had to deal with some rather unpleasant situations. Eventually, after the estate was settled, we took a family holiday in Israel. This we will remember all our lives. I would love to go back, but doubt that we will now. Our daughter started her nursing training, and when we visited her in Bradford, we went to a large church again. Eventually we were both baptised in the Mission, and became involved with the young people's work, and Sunday Schools, as we still are. On 28th. September 1994, our son Martyn was killed in a road accident. Although to this day I ask The Lord "why us?", I knew at the time that Martyn had only ever been loaned. He had made a commitment, so I know that he is with The Lord, and we will meet again some day. We would not have got through that without our faith, or the support of our church. At that time, The Lord promised me consolation. It seemed like it would never come, but recently, we have been given Syd. Hopefully Syd and Mery will marry soon. When we first met Syd, he was grieving over the loss of his father, and a young autistic boy he cared for, so we were able to help. I feel very much that The Lord has His hands on the pair of them, so they might as well stop fighting now! My interest in the Internet has led to contacts with lots of other Christians, and sporadic attempts at witnessing on my web site. The main problem is time. There is so much I want to do, and so little time to do it in. Where are we now? Helping to lead growth groups with adults -possibly being part of the church choir, and DH is chairman of the church diacionate. Beyond that we shall just have to trust the Lord and see.
Since this was written in December 1999, The Lord worked in a remarkable way in my life to bring healing and release, mainly through the ministry of a lovely lady named Angie Taylor.I've wriiten a page about it. Just click on her name to get there.
