Caroline

Before I came to faith my life was very mundane. It consisted of getting up, going to work, coming home, preparing dinner, bathing the kids and going to bed. It would be the same the next day, and the next …… and the next. Who was I before I came to faith? I was a wife. I was a mother of three. I was a secretary. I felt I didn't have an identity of my own. I belonged to someone else and they always wanted something from me.

I had attended church once in a while over the years; weddings, funerals, christenings and the like. I had never been called to faith before, so when we were invited to St Erkenwald's for the dedication of my nephew in April 2007 it wouldn't be any different….. would it? I wasn't looking for God on that day, but he found me, right there, at the back of the church.

I had never experienced anything like it in my life before. I was tremendously moved by the whole service, not just my nephew being dedicated and not just because it was a family service with a puppet show. We sang a hymn called “Jesus Lover of My Soul” and the words spoke deeply to me. I couldn't explain it. I knew instantly that this was a place I wanted to be.

During the service the vicar reached into his left inside pocket and retrieved a form to enrol on the “Encounter God” course. I got the feeling he had done that many times before! The course was to start in just 3 weeks time. Without hesitation I enrolled.

I attended the “Encounter God” course every week and a couple of weeks into the course I was asked if my family had noticed a difference in me; they hadn't and I was dejected. The next week, however, a lady who was also on the course with me took me to one side and told me what a difference she had seen in me since the first day of the course. I was so uplifted because I had felt a difference in me.

So now, I have committed myself to God and He has shown me the path he wants me to take. But He hasn't just left me to it. He is walking it with me everyday.

Who am I now I have come to faith? I am still a wife. I am still a mother. I am still a secretary. But more importantly, I am a Christian. I belong to God and he is so happy to have me.