Testimony
God works in different ways in our lives. Below are testimonies from our leaders and other members of the church on how God has changed their lives.
God's calling: Marcus Bill, Congregational Leader
I didn't grow up in a Christian home but always had a belief in God (as many do), although this had no real impact on my life.
When I was 14 I began to sense God wanting me to allow Him into my life. I didn't really understand what this meant but I started attending church and tried to live a better life. This is what I thought being a Christian was.
After about 6 months I attended a meeting where the speaker spoke of God's desire to work personally in each individuals life. He also told of how the Bible tells us God wants to heal us. This was of particular interest to me as I had a badly infected foot at the time due to a football injury. On hearing God wanted to heal me I asked Him to do just that and my foot was healed almost instantly.
I came to understand that being a Christian is not about what we try to do for God or just trying to live good lives. It is about receiving what He has done for us through Jesus on the cross. As we believe in Him and commit ourselves to Him He works in power in our lives.
Coping with Change: Nicky Bill, Church Member
How would you like to know someone who...
- You can call on any time of the day and night
- Is the best listener in the world
- Performs miracles
- Forgives you when you have done wrong
- Knows everything there is to know about you and still loves you anyway
- Is a friend who would give their life for you...?
Jesus promises in the Bible, to love us in this unconditional way when we commit our lives to him and ask forgiveness for our sins.
I grew up in a little town in New Zealand where I had Christian parents. My brother, sister and I went to church with my parents every week. When I was about 8 years old I made my own personal decision to become a Christian, which is asking God to come into my heart and committing my life to Him. I asked Him to forgive me for all the times I'd sinned and told God that I wanted Him to be the centre of my life. I have now been a Christian for over 20 years and although at times it has not been easy, Jesus has been a real friend and refuge to me. God has walked with me and sometimes carried me through the journey of life.
I have had incredibly lonely times, including the time when I moved from my little hometown to the large new city of Auckland and more recently to a new country, England. I have had to cope with starting new jobs, making new friends, finding new churches and dealing with the expected cultural differences in my move to England.
Since moving to England, I have married an English man and so have needed to fit into a new family so different from my own and deal with the grief of leaving my own country, possibly to never live there again...
I have felt incredibly homesick, missing my family, but during these times I found God to be my friend and my refuge. He has listened to me and filled me with peace and joy during the difficulties. I can remember certain times when I felt really 'down', and yet also feeling a 'joy' bubbling up from within me which I couldn't explain in the circumstances. In the Bible, it says "God is our refuge and strength, an ever−present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1), As well as "... the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).
God taught me to depend on Him because He loves me unconditionally and is always available when I need to talk or cry out to Him. Another part of the Bible (Psalm 63) has also been an inspiration to me, and starts by saying 'O God you are my God, earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water ...'. These verses were written by David, who was a king during the time the Old Testament of the Bible was written. In this Psalm, David was physically in a desert longing for food and thirsting for water, however he was also speaking of having a 'spiritual' thirst for God. He was desperate for a close relationship with God. I thought (and still think!) these words seemed so passionate and I also wanted to have this intense desire for God.
So throughout my life, especially during difficult or 'desert' times, God has become my close friend. Jesus said in the Bible (John 7:37) "If anyone is thirsty, let him (her) come to me and drink!" So God's encouragement for us, is that if we are in a dry, barren place in our lives, we can earnestly cry out to Him and seek Him, and He will satisfy our thirst!
Science doesn't have all the answers: Mark Whiting, Congregational leader
I had always been interested in Science since my first experiments (with matches) at the age of three which nearly resulted in the loss of the family home and my one year old sister. Disaster on a similar scale almost happened a few years later whilst trying to distil wood chips (it made some sort of sense at the time) in a shed full of bales of hay.
But at the age of seventeen I was surprised to find that the Christian faith was not incompatible with the Science I held dear. I was even more surprised when I finally realised that great though Science is, it hardly answers some of the most fundamental issues of Life, the Universe and Everything. It wasn't before long, that I found my calling in God and am now a Congregational Leader in the New Life Baptist Church.
Dealing with Pain: Bian Salins, Church member
"My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you. Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed... " −1 Peter 4 (Verse 12)
I recently suffered a miscarriage and lost my baby. Finding out I was pregnant was the high point for me − it had been a tough year of strife and persecution and my baby seemed like it was God's way of saying to me that everything was going to be OK − nothing else mattered except the life within me.
And then all in one day − September 6th, 2006 − my hopes were crushed and I found myself in the darkest place I have ever been. I grew up in India and had a struggled life there − so I can safely say that I have had a lot of low points in my life. But to lose your child is without doubt one of the sorriest places any mother can find herself.
All the time I was feeling destroyed and defeated there was only one question I had for God: WHY?
For the first time I felt my faith being severely tested. Why would God allow me to suffer such a cruel fate when I was at such a low point in my life already? How can I continue to say 'Blessed be thy name' when my blessing had been torn from my womb... Where were God's promises?
As time goes on I am not going to pretend I−ve found all the answers, but even as I ask these questions − I can feel his hand upon me. If I get by day by day, I know it is only by his grace. In those quiet moments that I listen to his voice − I know he feels my pain. After all, I can't deny the fact − he gave his only son to die on the cross for me.
At church last Sunday, there was a testimony being given − the lady spoke of a vision she had of a child struggling in the womb. In an instant, I had the same vision of my baby struggling inside my womb. In that moment, for one second, I stopped seeing my situation from my point of view and saw it from my baby's point of view. The Lord had given me an insight that I have held on to.
I've held on the vision and understanding God gave me from that Sunday − and come to accept that all the time I felt that God hadn't heard my prayer − perhaps he was listening to my baby's...
As Christians we are here on earth for one purpose only − to serve our Lord. I've understood that means to praise his name regardless of what happens. We are a part of his Kingdom 'for better or for worse'.
What would we think of God if he was a 'fair weather friend'? If he chose to be there for us only when things were good and life was easy? God gave up his child for me and in these hours, I know he is standing by me. And in my faith as a Christian, if I still chose to say 'Blessed be thy name' ' despite my own pain and sorrow, then I know my child's life was not in vain.
Hovering: Janet Wilkinson, Church member
I am almost hesitant to commit this experience to paper for fear of what people might think, but then I remind myself that Jesus didn't worry about what people thought of Him but had the courage of His convictions!
Back in June 2006 when our congregation had not long been established in its' own right, I remember lying in bed one evening when I was woken up in the early hours by a high pitched buzzing sound. I felt a cold draught on my left arm. I opened my eyes and lifted my right arm to warm my left one and as I did I was set back in the bed by a vision of a large white dove in a shaft of blue light, inches from my left arm. My instinct was to "shoo" it away, like you would with the pigeons at Leicester Square when they get too close for comfort, but was paralysed, my heart pulsated as I pushed back further into the pillow. I asked myself − how this bird found its way into my bedroom? The door was closed, the blinds were down, and then I sensed in my spirit that this was no ordinary bird but the Holy Spirit represented in the form of a dove. I opened up my hands and uttered the words "Holy Spirit, I welcome you". With this, I felt a burning sensation in my hands, which confirmed my suspicion. My husband then woke up, he claimed that a noise woke him but the dove had gone. I recounted my experience to him and thankfully he believed me and didn't just think I was off my head!
The next morning and in subsequent days, I was a bit bewildered by the whole experience and kept asking myself, and God, "What did it mean?" The answer was not immediate but a few weeks later I turned up my daily Bible notes and was bowled over to read the word "Hovering"…. and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1v2). The notes explained that before God completed His creation, He hovered over it until it became something beautiful.
I received the answer to my searching. I remember the "hovering" dove and am really comforted by that image of God's spirit hovering over me until I become something beautiful. Moreover, I think of our fledgling congregation. The encouragement and promise through this visitation that we, God's church in Stoughton, will become something beautiful, really fills me with assurance and optimism and is confirmation that God will build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
The reading in my notes came with an exhortation that WE must also learn to 'hover'. Hover over our relationships, our marriages, our children. We need to be patient, believing that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8). While we wait, we need to watch, protect, nourish and nurture. Not all eggs hatch at the same time. Maybe we are anxious to see things happen quickly. Rest assured, if you apply God's principles and keep hovering, things will happen in God's time.
God is our Refuge, our place of safety: Sally, Member of the daytime ladies group
I am a nurse and often find myself staying in one guesthouse or another in Warwick for training and update. Early this year was no exception and I booked two nights, a month apart, in a guesthouse I have never used before but was well known to the training institute I was attending.
I arrived, attended the study day and spent a good night in a beautiful room in a very old house. At breakfast the next morning I joined in a conversation with the owner and one of the other nurses staying there. "Did you have a good night?" they said. Well yes I had had a good night and told them so, they went on to explain that the house used to be a billeting station for Oliver Cromwell's men and was haunted by them, many had heard their soft–soled boots walking the stairs at night. Well it is not something I give a lot of thought to, so did not have much to say but rather wished they had not said anything at all, coming back as I was the next month.
The rest of the day was spent at the training centre with the other nurses. At lunchtime someone asked me where I was staying, I told them and several people said "oh you know that's haunted don't you – it's been on the television and some of us have heard the footsteps on the stairs at night." I said little, thinking of my next night there. I was not unduly bothered but unnerved when one or two of the girls said they had refused to stay there again after the back bedroom lights flicked on and off in the middle of the night.
The following month, having tried to put these stories of haunting out of my mind I arrived for the second nights stay. I was shown immediately to the back bedroom, the one with the flicking lights. It was lovely but I was uncomfortable so I prayed "Lord please bless this room and keep me safe". I put my bible on my bed and my prayer book in another corner of the room and tried to settle. Thoughts of Cromwell's soft–soled men, battles and lights flicking on and off would not leave me so I prayed aloud (not something I do easily or often). "Lord I am still nervous I am going to open my bible and read what ever I open it at, I pray that you will give me comfort with your words". (I didn't know where to look for the help I wanted so figured I would just read wherever the bible fell open).
This is what I read:
The person who rests in the shadow of the Most High God
will be kept safe by the Mighty One.
I will say about the Lord,
"He is my place of safety,
He is like a fortress to me.
He is my God. I trust in him"
He will certainly save you from hidden traps and from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his wings.
Under the feathers of his wings you will find safety.
He is faithful. He will keep you safe like a shield or a tower.
You won't have to be afraid of the terrors that come during the night.
You won't have to fear the arrows that come at you during the day.
You won't have to be afraid of the disease that attacks in the darkness.
You won't have to fear the plague that destroys at noon.
A thousand may fall dead at your side.
Ten thousand may fall near your right hand.
But no harm will come to you.
You will see with your won eyes
How God punishes wicked people.
The Lord is the one who keeps you safe.
So let the Most High God be like a home to you.
Then no harm will come to you.
No terrible plague will come near your tent.
The Lord will command his angels to take good care of you.
They will lift you up in their hands.
Then you won't trip over a stone.
You will walk all over lions and cobras.
You will crush mighty lions and poisonous snakes.
The Lord says, "I will save the one who loves me.
I will keep him safe, because he trusts in me.
He will call out to me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him in times of trouble.
I will save him and honour him.
I will give him a long and full life.
I will save him.
Psalm 91: New International Readers' Version
I knew God was with me and I had an undisturbed night.
