Who am I?

I am not worthy

I’m no one special, I often swear out loud when I know I shouldn’t. I’ve had a pretty shady past compared to the ‘average person’, I work hard, I’ve got a couple of kids, I’ve had a fairly good education, I am an ex-addict to lots of things from obsessive TV to excessive gym and a kaleidoscope of recreational drugs. I’m prone to bouts of depression and self-hatred, I’ve been violent and experienced violence, survived two suicide attempts and I battle cravings for junk food on a regular basis.

I have always written a lot, but not online, so I thought I would start to share my findings in the public domain to encourage and help others. If I can change one person’s life – the time doing this will not have been wasted, even if it’s just to make them smile or laugh for a few minutes.

I thank God every day for everything he does for me, and can clearly see just how much better life is with Jesus at my side, and the blessings of some wonderful family and friends.

I have been saved by God’s grace

One day, back in 2000, I had a life changing experience as my sister read to me from the bible. It was like a ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ moment, a blindingly obvious statement that changed the way I saw faith, God and Jesus.

My sister was always very good at putting things in the bible in a way that could easily be understood, she made me laugh when I was deeply depressed, and on that day I went from wanting nothing to do with faith to not being able to get enough of it!

She explained to me that the way to heaven was through Jesus Christ. It is written in the scripture in the New Testament in John 14:6

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. “

And it didn’t matter what you had done in the past, your sins have already been paid for by his crucifixion and resurrection, he loves you and wants you to turn from your ways and live in his way, as God intended.

She explained that Jesus was special, he lived a faultless, caring and loving life here on earth and for that got killed in his 30s! Jesus was God in human form so that when we speak to him he understands what it’s like to be human, I thought there must be something in that. My curiosity increased the more I read.

All I had to do was to say a simple prayer, turning away from my old life and ways, inviting him into my life, into my heart, and hand over all my sin to him in prayer in his name. Then take up my cross and follow him. So I did.

After praying the prayer, I could not believe just how much I could understand when reading the bible. It all made complete sense! The grass was greener and I felt a huge feeling of peace and joy.

I could not believe how much of a difference it has made in my life having the ability to pray in Jesus’ name, having a personal relationship, and the influence and things that would happen as a result. All because of God’s wonderful grace.

I want to share this with you

During a sermon last week I heard “By sharing our testimony we strengthen our faith” which has driven me to start this.

I have decided to take the step to blog publicly, taking examples from my personal journal because I feel as if what I have experienced so far in this life could also help others who are going through similar circumstances. I stand in absolute awe some days at the things that happen and I want you to know about them too.

Don’t get me wrong, life is still hard, being born again does not instantly change things to be faultless, stress-free and perfect, and you’ll see that as you begin to read the blogs.

Unfortunately there are so many misunderstandings and presumptions of what being a Christian is, and more importantly what it is not, so I want to give you my point of view to break down the barriers that prevent communication, and stop the misconceptions about what people think going to church is.

I’m not really sure what the content of this blog will be until I start writing, but here are the sort of things this blog will contain:

• Real life stories of what has happened in my past life.
• My personal relationship with God.
• What it’s like to walk with Jesus.
• Real life stories relating to living life as a born again Christian.
• Things that have happened since using prayer and worship regularly. God’s blessings and examples of proof that prayer works!
• How I have applied what I have learned from scripture in my life.
• What I have been learning about this week.
• Other people’s testimonies I have heard.
• I would love to connect with believers and unbelievers via my blog.
• I would also love to connect to people who would like to hear more about my faith, and how to start their own journey with Christ.

I look forward to sharing my blog with you.