I was born, in west Wales, of  Chinese parentage, in 1941. I was “born again” in Hong Kong on the 3^rd Sunday of October 1983.

Although ethnically Chinese, the first 42 years of my life was typically Welsh. I was christened as an infant, and introduced to Christianity at the age of 5 when I was enrolled in the Sunday school of the local  parish church. I joined the church choir at the age of 7, and apart from a few rebellious teenage years, continued to attend an Anglican church into adulthood both in my home town and later when I moved to east Wales in 1970 and in 1982, even further east to Hong Kong.

On the 3^rd Sunday of October, 1983, as I was about to deliver a sermon as the Church Warden of Emmanuel Church, Hong Kong, I had what could be described as a “Damascus Road” experience. Although I knew that Jesus had died for the world, I had never realised that Jesus had died for me, Tony Nam, as an individual. So in the 8 seconds it took me to open my sermon in prayer, I had a mega conversation with the Lord Jesus.

I said to Him, “Lord You gave Your life for me… now Lord Jesus I want to give my life to You. Whatever You want me to do, wherever and whenever You want it done, speak Lord and I will obey. Get into the driving seat Lord and take over my life.”

At that moment, I was simultaneously born again and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I preached, but not the sermon I had prepared, but what came from my heart as the Holy Spirit gave me the words. I do not recall much of what I said, but I do remember concluding with the word, “… for 37 years from the age of 5 until now, I have known about the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the last 10 minutes, there has been an 18 inch shift, from my head to my heart. Now I can say that I don’t just know about Jesus, but I now know Him.”

My life has not been the same since. From being merely a committed church goer, I became a committed Christian, and empowered by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I’ve had the privilege and joy of serving the Lord in many capacities, and particularly in the Christian ministry of healing.

In July 2008, 25 years on from that wonderful experience, a tumour was found in my bladder. On removal of the tumour, I was informed by the registrar (urology) that not all the cancer had been removed. It had already infiltrated the muscle and the wall of my bladder. Furthermore, unless I received radical radiotherapy or surgical removal of my bladder within the next month or so, the cancer would break out of my bladder and spread throughout my body.

 On leaving the registrar’s office, in agreement  my wife Marian and I resolved… WE SHALL NOT COME UNDER THE SPIRIT OF FEAR, OUR TRUST IS IN THE LORD

 When I chose removal of the bladder I was referred to the top consultant urologist in west Wales and a pre-operation interview arranged.

At this interview the consultant’s opening words were, “Mr. Nam you have an extremely nasty aggressive cancer and your bladder must be removed as soon as possible together with your prostate and lymph glands…”  The pros and cons of a neo-bladder or stoma bag were presented to me so that I could make an informed decision of which procedure should be followed when the operation was carried out. Before this interview was concluded, however, I said to the consultant I needed to say something to him.  What I said was:-

 “I am a Christian.  I believe, indeed know that Jesus is alive and heals today. I know that Jesus heals through the medical profession; I have no problem with that, as the Gospel writer Luke was a physician. But Jesus also heals through miracles. I have and will continue to receive a lot of powerful prayers and ministry for the removal of the cancer in my body. What I would hate to happen is, for you to remove the bladder, send it to the pathology laboratory for analysis and for the pathologist to say to you,  ‘why have you removed a perfectly healthy bladder?’ So, is there anyway you can check me out before you put the knife in?”

The consultant agreed that he would examine the bladder internally with a camera and on opening me up, would further examine the bladder visually and by touch… and should he conclude that the bladder need not be removed, he would be doing this based on my faith and not his. To which I responded, “That’s cool.” In fact, over the weeks since I’d learnt that there was a cancerous tumour in my body, my primary prayer had been…

 “Lord, I desire a cancer free body.”

 Which I followed up with a secondary prayer of…

 “And a miraculous healing would be cool.”

On the evening of Thursday 25^th September I was admitted to the hospital. On the Friday morning, the consultant’s registrar asked me to sign the consent form for two procedures, an examination by camera following which they would remove my bladder etc. “May remove my bladder.” I responded, to which the registrar said that they expected to remove the bladder and were only inserting the camera for my peace of mind as I’d requested consultant so to do.  I said to the registrar that I had an expertise in my professional field just as they had an expertise in their professional field. I also presumed that they had a professional integrity such that they would do or not do whatever was correct, and so I had no problem with entrusting my body into their care.

 I was wheeled into the anaesthetic room… and the next thing I remember was, being in the recovery unit and the registrar saying,

 “Mr Nam, we have not removed your bladder.” To which I responded “Alleluia.

He then said that they could see no sign of cancer in my bladder or in the tissue sample he removed from the site of the tumour.

All I could say was “Praise the Lord.” And then went back to “sleep”.

Unknown to me whilst I was asleep in the hospital and prior to the surgical team’s investigations… my wife, Marian was woken at 4.00am by a bright light in our bedroom and which she knew was a heavenly visitation. Whether it was Jesus THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD or an angel… she doesn’t know, but what she does know is that she was not shocked by this supernatural visitation, but felt such a peace and joy within her. Hardly the feelings one would expect in the natural, knowing one’s husband was in hospital to undergo major surgery. Also, a member of our church, whilst driving to work that Friday morning, saw, hovering above the roof of our home, a white dove.

Again, prior to my knowing that I had received a miraculous healing, Marian took a phone call from the consultant who told her that he could not justify removing a perfectly healthy bladder. Alleluia.

I was discharged early the following Sunday and my wife, Marian and I decided that we should not immediately go home, but first go to our church meeting to give thanks to the Lord for the miraculous healing I had received.  When I arrived in the church, a microphone was put in my hand, and all I could say was “Wow… God is so good.” And heard our senior pastor say, “It’s not very often we see Tony Nam lost for words.” And then I spoke as The Holy Spirit gave me utterances, and here’s what I said, here’s what I believe this testimony is all about. On this Sunday morning, 3days after I had been admitted to the hospital for major surgery, I said…

“The lesson God wants to give to the Church, and that means you, through this miraculous healing is… You must be bolder in professing your faith… you must be bolder in professing what you believe… and not in an academic intellectual way, but in an active way, in the market place, in a relevant way. Think about it guys. If I had not had the audacity… not been so bold as to tell the consultant surgeon what I believed, I would not be here now giving this testimony. Instead, I would still be in the intensive care ward, and minus my bladder, prostate and lymph glands. Praise the Lord.

POST SCRIPT.
Since the above testimony was written two things have happened.

 First, the Histopathology Report of the biopsy that was taken during the operation that never was has been received which stated, quote  “No tumour/transitional cell carcinoma is seen. “  and  “No dysplasia, residual or recurrent Transitional Cell Carcinoma or any other malignancy is seen.”  Unquote.

And secondly, in October, for the peace of mind of the medical practitioners who were looking after me, I had a MRI Scan carried out, the report of which concluded that, quote  “If multiple deep biopsies have revealed no tumour then perhaps a follow-up study after a suitable interval (3 – 4 months) might be recommended to assess changes of these appearances having allowed for post operative changes to settle.” Unquote. Or in other words, as the high-grade, aggressive, invasive cancer that was observed when the tumour was removed can no longer be found, it would be prudent to “kick for touch”, and check it out again.

In May 2009, 7 months after the MRI scan and 10 months after the malignant tumour was removed, to satisfy the urologist, I allowed them to examine me once again with an internal camera and take further and more extensive samples from my bladder for a biopsy. The urologist is still perplexed, but announced that there was no sign, visually or on analysis of any tumour or malignancy.

HEAVENLY FATHER,

MAY ALL WITH WHOM I SHARE THIS WONDERFUL NEWS BE ENABLED TO KNOW THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOUR, AND KNOW THAT THE GREATEST MIRACLE… THE GREATEST HEALING  IS… SALVATION,  A FREE GIFT FROM YOU.

THIS I ASK IN THE NAME OF YOUR SON JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.

]]> http://realpeoplerealgod.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/tonys-story/feed/ 0 newlifewales http://realpeoplerealgod.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/melanies-story/ http://realpeoplerealgod.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/melanies-story/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:18:27 +0000 newlifewales http://realpeoplerealgod.wordpress.com/?p=97 ]]> A terrifying world of addiction set free by God.

I first started experimenting with drugs and alcohol when I was 15 years old – drinking vodka with my friends and smoking cannabis: this was pretty normal every weekend. Although my parents had brought me up not to behave in such way I was completely rebellious. My parents separated when I was 15 but this is not why I drank or took drugs. I liked the effect and loved going out with my friends. I lived with my dad when they separated and he worked hard. This meant he couldn’t really keep an eye on me 24 hours a day and, although my big sister took over my mum’s role in the house, she was also unable to stop me from being so rebellious.

On the night of my 16th birthday party I got very drunk. Many people brought alcohol and there were soon at least 60 people at my house. I had liked this guy for some time and he knew I liked him. He was drinking gin and must have been about 25 years old. We all left the house and went to someone else’s. I was so drunk I could hardly keep my eyes open and I remember being in a room with the bed against the door. That night I lost my virginity in a black-out. Even this did not deter me from getting drunk.

I then met someone and lived with him, on and off, for nearly four years. It became abusive and it ended when I had enough and got extremely drunk at a wedding and kissed another man. I continued getting drunk and taking all kinds of drugs: ecstasy, acid, mushrooms, amphetamines and other uppers. I tried to get my life together when I was 19 years old and went to the doctor for help. I had a CPN (community psychiatric nurse) and would have regular sessions talking about my problems. They also prescribed me anti-depressants and sleeping tablets.  I went college to do an Access course as I wanted to become a nurse. I passed the course, but that’s as far as I went. Throughout this time I was searching for an answer and often thought to myself that there was more to life than taking drugs and drinking. I read lots of inspirational self-help books and tried many alternative new-age religions – a bit from everything.

Drifting along I started really to try and make a change. I worked for a year but really struggled to keep it together, until eventually I had to give the job up as I had been admitted to a psychiatric ward several times.  Each time in hospital I wanted to get better and hated the person I’d become and the things I had done. I remember one time I was in a psychiatric ward and my mum was on the phone begging me not to keep doing drugs. I know I meant it in my heart when I said to her that I wouldn’t do it again but, the very next day when I was released, I went to a free party and got trashed. So I ended up in the same place again. I missed out on so much with my family and my friends and became a lone wolf.

The last time I went into hospital a place came up for me in a rehabilitation centre. Although I still didn’t think I had a problem I went as a last resort. I was there for three months and then moved on to secondary treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. I stayed clean for four years but was still really unhappy and full of fear. I would wake up and think to myself, “If this is life clean and sober I don’t want it.” I knew that a drink would lead to another drink and then more drug abuse so I took lots of painkillers and ended up in hospital. How very dark it is before the dawn! The day I got out I was resigned to the fact that I might always be mentally ill and need medication or help in some way, but God had a plan for me and I met three girls who were clean and sober and attending 12-Step meetings and church. Life got so much better as a result of being around these people and they told me that God could do for me what I couldn’t do for myself and that He was the answer. But I was still preoccupied with my ex- boyfriend. I thought I could help him get clean. One day I went to see him and was full of anger and resentment that he could not stop for me – so I relapsed. I drank some whisky and that lead to nine more months of turmoil. The physical craving was beyond my mental control; I could not stop, even if I wanted to, because the craving for drugs was so strong. Eventually my boyfriend went into rehab and I decided to try and give up again. I went back to those girls I’d met before and carried on doing support groups. I was prescribed Codeine Phosphate for the pain of withdrawal by a doctor and got hooked onto them – and so did my boyfriend. It took a year for us to separate and get clean again but this time I knew that I needed something more so I cried out to God, “help me please.”

I was in Cardigan, walking down to the supermarket one day, and just felt as though someone was prompting me to go into a church, so I went over and soon found myself inside being prayed for. Thus my journey with God really began. Little did I know that my boyfriend, who had left that same week, was going through detox ‘raw’ with prayer and he also rang me up in the same week to say, “I love Jesus.” I was shocked and excited because I knew then that God really did have a plan. A year later we were married.

God has given me a new heart and definitely has plans for me and my husband. Since being married we have had people detoxing in our home. It is so amazing to see people light up and look healthy and full of life again. I never forget that these people are God’s children and think, “What would Jesus do?” I have a vision for a place where people can come straight from the street to detox. There are so many people we come across every day that want to stop what they are doing and be well, but we have waiting lists and all sorts of hoops to jump through sometimes that make it too late. I’ve lost many friends to addiction.

God’s love and power flows in our home and, through us, many have come to know Jesus and love Him too.

Today I know a peace like no other and I feel so loved by my Heavenly Father. He is my corrector and director. I have met many people on my journey so far and, God-willing, will be going to Bible college this September. I believe that the Lord is equipping me and my husband to do miraculous work with addicts.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted,

and to proclaim that captives will be releasedand prisoners will be freed.

(Isaiah 61:1 NLT)

When we met neither of us were Christians but we were seeking God through various techniques such as meditation and fasting. We went into it quite deeply. This is before we even met, but we both had similar lives – spending concentrated time trying to focus and still our minds and seeking a breakthrough to something beyond ourselves. We would devote ourselves, sometimes for years, to a specific type of meditation or spiritual subject matter. But at the end we were always thinking, “This is not it – we are still looking.”

We have subsequently discovered that we were actually once in the same room together on a ten-day silent Buddhist retreat course before we met. The men weren’t allowed to look at the women so we didn’t recognise one another as future potential marriage material at the time! For both of us it was several years of intense spiritual searching. We were both earnestly seeking something other than what life was showing us. It was quite a drive in us.

Ian

I spent a year in India simply trying to still my mind and find God. What I found was that everyone was doing his or her own thing. The retreats were not pleasant. It was physically difficult and painful to sit for eight to nine hours a day cross-legged and in silence. You do have certain spiritual experiences during these retreats I would say. But I have now found that there is a big difference between a spiritual experience and a God experience. Maybe 80 per cent were still seeking. Strictly speaking Buddhists don’t believe in God, but I was following the Buddhist path in a religious way. I was talking to God, asking Him to help me and give me strength. I don’t think many people were doing that.

Sarah

It was the same for me. My first experiences were when I went to New Zealand and felt I had been guided to spend some time looking inside myself. I went on a Vipassana meditation course and it sparked a real interest in spiritual things in me. It became my life. I started getting a real hunger to seek spiritually – nothing else around me mattered. I also spent some time with the Hare Krishnas. They were opposites really. Vipassana believes in anything and everything. It is about overcoming the snares of life by bypassing it. You detach yourself from life in a way. Krishnas, on the other hand, celebrate life. They have a focus that they call the Supreme Godhead. I had one foot in each side but neither of them was right for me. I felt that everyone else seemed to be getting something out of it. But there was something about it, especially the Krishnas, that wasn’t quite right.

I returned home and came to a point where, even though my whole life was focussed on this spiritual search, I realised that I wasn’t happy. That’s when I started to look at other things as well. I looked at dousing and medium-ship. I found quite a lot of evil stuff coming in that frightened me. I really started to cry out to God. I was confused and I needed help. My mind was getting really unstable. I had been so deep into so many thingsI didn’t know what was real any more. So I ran away  and met Ian! That was three years ago.

Ian

Both of us were talking to God, but how do you get to know Him? What happened to us is common to what happens to a lot of people. They try one thing and then the next thing and you end up with a whole bookshelf full of different stuff. It leaves you very confused. You don’t see many people who just follow one thing – if you do they are probably a bit stuck in it. For us, the saving grace was that we kept on looking until we eventually put all of those books in the wood burner.

I guess that the first step for me was coming to west Wales for an interview. I stayed with a friend who was going to a church in Cardigan and went along with him to one of their small-group meetings. I enjoyed being with people whatever their faith. That’s how it is from a New Age perspective. You feel that you are kindred spirits and that it is all relating to one god. Christians seemed a bit narrow in saying that Jesus was the only door. I felt that I was more enlightened.

Back in Devon Sarah and I met and Sarah was brave enough to come to Wales and start a life with me. We were both still seeking and there was something about Cardigan that drew us.

Sarah

Ian said a kind of prayer – not prayer as we know it today – saying, “We have come to the end of things. Where do we go now?” We went to see Ian’s friend again and he spent the whole evening basically explaining that everything we had spent years learning about was a lie; it wasn’t actually the truth! All the people that we believed in and thought were great people were also deceived. It turned everything on its head. We went home and for a week we hardly spoke to each other. We were both thrown into quite a turmoil as the truth of the gospel of Jesus fought against everything we had previously believed in. I remember getting out all my meditation books to try and hold on to something. But suddenly they were just empty. I thought about everything that Ian’s friend had said. Eventually I came to the Bible and opened it up. The moment I did that Ian walked into the room and said, “So it’s been happening to you as well.” That just broke something. I then said a prayer to Jesus, “If you want to come in, you can.”

We went to a church service two days later – just to find out more really. The pastor invited those who wanted to give their lives to Jesus to go to the front. I really wanted to go up, but I was scared that I might have to talk into the microphone. Then Ian got up and off he went. I thought, “If he’s going I’m going!” That was it. That was us giving our lives to the Lord. It was very quick – we just plunged into it. We felt we had nothing to lose. We weren’t totally convinced but it felt safe. We had probably let other sorts of spirits in before so it wasn’t a totally new thing for us to say, “Spirit of Jesus, come in.” At the same time it was very different. It was a real submission. The last place I’d previously wanted to look was to Jesus. Christianity just didn’t seem exciting. None of my friends believed in Jesus. The pastor said, “You do know what you’ve done don’t you – you’ve just been born again.” I thought, “Oh no – they’ve got me!”

Ian

The change from then to now has been HUGE. It’s been a journey. The next day I felt different. I didn’t feel alone. I felt that Jesus was walking with me.

All that energy in deep spiritual searching – God turned that around to Him. The search is over. Our whole life focus is now God, and it feels very good. We’ve thrown all the old stuff out and now we have a completely new life. It felt really good for both of us to say, “Right, now we’re not confused; we’ve just got the book [The Bible] and this very clear way now.” Everything we have been searching for in other places – meditation etc, we’ve found in God and in Christianity. And it’s good, pure and safe – and yet at the same time awesome and powerful because God’s Holy Spirit is in us now. Christianity is really exciting. It’s not at all how it seemed to us before.

All we want now is to ‘do God’. We want to be everything that He wants us to be and have closeness and intimacy with Him. We want to get any junk out of us that stops that from happening. God has done so much in us. Boy – it’s been intense!

I gave my life to Jesus as a young boy but instead of going to church and reading the scriptures and finding out more about Jesus and the Holy Spirit I was silly and I played games with God. The Holy Spirit was with me but I knew that I grieved Him because I used to experiment with the ouija board and stuff. For years and years I was very unsettled. I then joined the Mormon Church. I learned a lot about God in the Mormon Church – but they had other teachings that I found out were not right. It is a shame because the people were lovely. I was in the Mormon Church for about 12 years but I could never settle. I was always falling away then going back then falling away then going back – eventually I fell away completely and I am not going back. I then became part of a Pentecostal church, was baptised again by immersion in water for the forgiveness of my sins, and I was filled with the Holy Spirit and started speaking in tongues.

I was living at Newbridge. It was a fantastic time. I remember one day I lost my job, and I lost my car, which I had on finance, all on one day. I had no money and I knew Christmas was coming up. I was at a church meeting and I said to the Lord, “I don’t know what to do. I owe so much money here there and everywhere. I’m going to put this problem into your hands” and I forgot about it and I went home. I went to sign on and I tried to look for other work. I had the best Christmas ever! There was a hamper that suddenly appeared. I don’t know where it came from except that it came from the Lord. We phoned up the company to find out whether they had sent it to us and they said no, it had not come from them. Our neighbours didn’t send it to us either. It was rather comical – but there was enough food in that hamper to keep us going through Christmas. It was fantastic. My wife was saying to me, “Raymond, we need clothes for the children when they go back to school.” I told her not to worry about it; we would give this problem to the Lord and see what He gives us. A couple of days later there was a knock on the door and it was someone from the church with a large sack. He said that he had been to see his sister and she had given him this bag of clothes. He didn’t want them so he offered them to me. I opened it up and all the children needed for school – trousers, shirts, shoes – everything they needed was in that bag.

I moved back to Cardigan to come and look after my mother who was very ill. Things started going wrong. I started doing things my way again. I was putting myself first and Jesus second.

I was stupid enough to go back to drinking – I used to drink a heck of a lot – and I had an affair. I dropped out of church and did a lot of stupid things. I was very depressed, really down for over a year. I left the wife during this time. We tried to get back together but the past was the past and we had to get on with our lives so, sadly, our marriage came to an end. I went back to church and for the past five years I haven’t failed going to church on Sundays and meetings during the week too. For several months every meeting I went to I used to cry my eyes out. I could feel the power of the Holy Spirit upon me and I could feel the presence of the Lord and could sense His suffering. Occasionally I saw Him in front of me when I was in church. He was humbling me. He was bringing me to my knees and I repented of all the stuff I had done in the past and He really broke my heart. But now He has renewed my heart. I am a completely different person now.

He has done so many things in my life, more than there is space for here, but I do know this much. He is my Saviour and I love Him from the bottom of my soul. I will love Him for eternity for what He has done. He has saved me from going to hell – I was very close to losing my spiritual life, even my physical life, and He brought me back from the brink of it.

At school I had a lot of big questions that were not being answered. Where did the universe end? What was beyond it? What had existed before the ‘Big Bang’? What was life all about anyway? I went to a few Christian Union meetings; I think I was looking for some experience that proved conclusively that God existed, but when it didn’t happen I decided that I couldn’t believe in Him. I called myself an atheist and would refuse to bow my head for the prayers or sing the hymns at school assembly; but somehow it felt wrong inside, it jarred.

I was married to Jeff in 1981, and because the people at the register office were threatening industrial action, we got married in church. I sensed something real in the service – I can’t describe it any better than that. Very soon afterwards I went to art college in Stockport. I was the only married student. There were two Christians in my group: one had just become a Christian and the other had been a Christian for a while. I used to eavesdrop on their conversations with each other and with people in the class. They knew God. Their relationship with Him was real. They prayed; they spoke to Him and He spoke to them. They had what I was looking for. God was so real to them that in order to doubt his existence I would have had to call them liars – and they weren’t the kind of people to lie. If I’d had any sense I would have asked them straight away how I could know God too, but I was shy and I didn’t. That was when I suddenly became fascinated, obsessed, with God. I started reading the Bible. At the time I didn’t understand most of what I was reading, but it was still wonderful because it was all about Him. I started going to a church – because He was there. He was everywhere I looked. Everyone on the radio and the television seemed to be talking about Him, and whatever it was I wanted to listen.

I longed to know Jesus. I’d heard people at church speaking about how they became Christians and most had some dramatic experience, an encounter with God that seemed to remove all doubt. I was jealous that nothing had happened to me, so I thought. I didn’t recognise that I was right in the middle of it. God was drawing me to Himself like a magnet.

This went on for more than two years. I’d finished college and Jeff and I had moved to Cheshire. We started going to a lovely, friendly little Methodist church where they invited us to go with them and hear Billy Graham speak in Liverpool. Billy Graham was on TV a few days before we went. It was a meeting like the one we’d be attending and He spoke from Romans 10:9-13. It was verse 13 that got through to me “…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” – everyone – even me. I didn’t have to wait for an experience. The ball was in my court. I simply had to confess Jesus as Lord and believe He’d been raised from the dead. He had already done everything I needed. All I had to do was to trust Him and reach out and take it. So I took my opportunity at Anfield football ground in the summer of 1984. I remember having a short inward struggle about how friends and family might react if I became a Christian. But there was no contest. I needed to get right with God and I didn’t really care what other people would think. I went forward onto the pitch when the invitation was given and I willingly and joyfully – and publicly – gave my life to Him and received his forgiveness for everything I’d ever done wrong and acceptance as His child.

The next day the whole world seemed like a different place. Everything seemed clearer, brighter – even the grass looked greener. I knew that something amazing had happened and I was euphoric.

We moved house again in 1989 to a place called Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire. Before we moved the Lord showed me a ‘picture’ of a road sign with the word ‘Godmanchester’ on it. The letters GOD were really clear and the rest of the word faded into the distance. Jeff had been for an interview there and I felt that God was telling me that it was the place He wanted us to be and that by going there we would come closer to Him. I was therefore not surprised when Jeff got the job.

I was once at a Christian conference when I had the most awful pain from an abscess in my tooth. I had not been able to sleep properly for two nights. Even strong painkillers would not dull it and the antibiotics I got from the dentist the day before had not yet started to kill the infection. I was in our chalet trying to relax but it hurt so much that I did not know what to do with myself. Then my friend suddenly stood up and prayed for God to heal me. And He did – the pain just melted away to nothing the second she started to pray. She carried on praying for quite a bit. I didn’t like to stop her to tell her that the Lord had already done it! Several times that evening I felt a little twinge of pain but each time I reminded myself that Jesus had healed me and the pain went away. I celebrated with a glass of fizzy drink with lots of ice – no pain at all. Jeff and I have since prayed for a lady selling the Big Issue in Carmarthen. She had a nasty abscess and Jesus healed her too. When we prayed you could see the swelling on her cheek from it but by the next day it had cleared up. She did not need to go to the dentist or take antibiotics.

God is my maker, my Saviour, my Lord, my Father, my teacher, my healer, my help, my strength, the source of all my joy and the lover of my soul. After 26 years as a Christian I just want more of Him all the time.

We moved to Godmanchester in 1989 and the church there was a very exciting place to be. You could see that the people really looked forward to going to church services. There was a lively worship band that played and we weren’t the youngest people there! We were both really happy and made some good friends very quickly. The people interested me and I somehow connected with them so I started to take a bit more interest in their opinions and in what was being said at church. It seemed odd to me that these really nice people who I admired and enjoyed being friends with also chose to be Christians. I started to think maybe there was something in it if these people were so committed and so convinced by it all – and they obviously weren’t idiots. I began to wonder if I could possibly be wrong. Maybe what they believed was true. I admired their commitment and the time they spent doing things with the church. A lot were businessmen and could have been doing something far more profitable with their time. I could see that this was obviously a high priority for them. I was maybe having these gentle little stirrings.

It was probably about the same time that our ‘adventures’ with the house started to happen. We found ourselves in a bit of a sticky situation because when we moved to Godmanchester the local authority that I worked for had a great scheme where you could have a bridging loan so that you could buy a house quickly, take up your job and then you could sell your old house and pay off the loan. Everybody else who had taken part in it had done quite well out of it because it was all subsidised by the council and didn’t cost you anything. However we did it at exactly the wrong time when the market was at its peak and immediately we bought the house in Godmanchester the market started to fall. The value of the house we were selling was dropping like a stone but the bridging loan was obviously keeping at the same level.

After six months it became clear that there was a major problem and it wasn’t going to be easily resolved because we could not sell our house back in Cheshire. The worry of that started to hit hard. I was quite anxious about it and tried desperately to work out ways to get out of the problem. I felt guilty about putting us in that predicament and that it was my responsibility to sort it all out. But the little efforts that I could make were quite insignificant and didn’t do any good at all. It was as if my life was being shaken up and down as though it was in a cocktail shaker. Everything had been quite straightforward before that. We’d moved up the ladder – from nice houses to better houses and from good jobs to better jobs and everything was ticking along. Then suddenly things started not to be so great.

I started to make good friendships with some of the blokes at church. I aspired to be like them. We used to have quite long in-depth conversations about ‘Life, the universe and everything’. They would tell me what they thought and I felt happy to tell them what I thought. They weren’t at all dismissive of my opinions and seemed really interested in what I had to say though, if I could play it back now, I’m sure a lot of what I said then would sound really foolish to me now. They always had reasons why they had opinions and didn’t just follow dogma. They didn’t just follow the party line or anything like that.

I started having little one-to-one meetings with Andrew the minister and Tim, who was on the leadership team. I finished work early on a Friday and either one of them would come and spend an hour with me. When you think about it that was heck of a commitment for them. They were much busier than I yet they were willing to find that time. We would talk about things that I had problems with, things that annoyed me and things that I liked about the church and about Christianity. We talked a lot about the situation in Northern Ireland or I’d rant on about stuff that I’d read about in the headlines and taken out of context. I could ask any question I liked. They never missed a week and never seemed bored. They never looked at their watch thinking, “I hope this idiot shuts up soon with his stupid ramblings!”

At the same time the problem with the house become a major difficulty. It was becoming more and more obvious that we were going to become bankrupt. By this time the bridging loan had gone on for about 18 months – the council only picking up the tab for the first six months. I was summoned to see the bank manager who strongly suggested that we take out a personal loan for this huge debt. The debt was so big that the interest on it was almost exactly my monthly take home pay. So that was a non-starter.

I had been brave enough to discuss it with some people at church, which was a big step for me. It was quite amazing actually because until then I thought, “I got us into this mess, it’s my obligation to get us out of it and I don’t need any help.” I got some good advice and encouragement and people said they were praying about it. At the time I thought, “What the bloomin’ heck good is that!” But we needed all the help we could get and if people were stupid enough to pray about it I wasn’t going to tell them not to.

This thing, the bankruptcy, was coming to a head. The more I struggled with it the worse it got. We got some good advice from The Bankruptcy Association not to enter into any agreements unless they had a time limit. Any agreement needed to have a full and final settlement date. We made offers to pay off an amount that we could afford but the bank kept saying no, that’s no good – if you don’t agree to pay it all back then we’ll proceed to bankruptcy. The idea really scared me. We wouldn’t necessarily be out on the streets but we’d lose our house. It seemed like the end of the world to me. It was making me quite ill worrying about it.

The bank was quite upset that they had lost all this money so they took possession of our old house in Congleton, which had still not sold. They wrote off the bridging loan but the value of the house was nothing like the value of the bridging loan by this time. There was a shortfall and they said that they were going to repossess our current house to make up the difference by making us bankrupt. The language was getting more and more threatening. It dawned on me that I had to let go or it was going to send me bonkers. Then I’d be bankrupt and bonkers as well!

Maybe it was the Lord, I don’t know, but it was as if a switch turned and I was able to say I’m not going to struggle any more. Elaine and I had prayed together about it and we’d made our final offer. If the bank accepted it – great. If not there was nothing we could do about it. We’d still love one another and still be together and would cope with whatever came our way. It was a huge relief actually.

The next letter came from the bank and I was sure that they were going to make us bankrupt and we’d have to try to find somewhere we could rent. We opened the letter up and amazingly it said that they had accepted our offer. We could make payments we could afford over five years and it would be a full and final settlement. Once we had done that it would be over. We could keep our house. It wasn’t quite a miracle – well perhaps it was one of sorts.

At round about the same time my discussions with Andrew and Tim were coming to a climax. I was listening. The events with the house had changed me and I was becoming less cynical. I started to become aware and more appreciative of all those things I’d taken for granted in the past. It was like my eyes were being opened for the first time.

I had always prayed to God, quite selfishly for things I wanted – like my exams and Christmas presents. And when I met Elaine I prayed about that. But God was remote and seemed airy-fairy to me. I didn’t know that you could know Him and worship Him and have a relationship with Him. In my discussions with Andrew and Tim we talked about God – about how He loved me and how Christ had died for my sins. All I had to do was accept it. It was such an alien thought. I had never thought of God like that before. I didn’t realise that He wanted to love me and care for me or that He was interested in how my life went.

One Friday, after about 20 meetings, Andrew invited me to pray a prayer of commitment. I was still unsure about a lot of things. I’d listened to stuff about having to exercise a bit of faith and having to take some things on trust. So I said this prayer and nothing much seemed to happen. I didn’t feel the least bit different at all. I was half expecting some great groundbreaking thing to happen to me and it didn’t. That didn’t necessarily bother me a great deal. However over the next few days and weeks it started to dawn on me that I was changing the way I acted and spoke. The way that I thought was changing and I was analysing my opinions about stuff – things that I’d always assumed I was right about. I also became more and more aware of all the blessings in my life. It was all very gradual, subtle, gentle – almost imperceptible. But if you looked back in days and weeks there was a lot happening. I was being changed.

I felt comfortable and happy but at the same time I was being challenged about some of the things I had done and some things I still did. I was being challenged about honesty and integrity. Until then I’d had my own little morality system. I used to decide what was right and what was wrong. I used to think that it was OK to lie and steal the odd thing from work. Now this was being challenged by Christian standards and it was a whole different ball game. I changed a lot of things that I did and that process is still going on.

I had to sit an important exam recently and a kind friend had given me some Rescue Remedy. I had it in the car with me as I drove to the exam and I intended to take some to calm my nerves. Suddenly I realised that I could trust in God to deal with my nerves – and to help me through the exam. So I threw the bottle away and immediately my nerves subsided.

My life is a million times better now than it ever was. I don’t worry about dying any more and I don’t envy other people’s careers and possessions. If we have a problem we can pray together about it and leave it for God to resolve. I’m really grateful that we have been given our house back and I am convinced that God guides us.

I only wish that I had become a Christian a lot earlier and I’m grateful to Andrew and Tim and all the other people at the church back in Godmanchester. I’m so glad that they were there and were willing to ‘put their money where their mouth is’ for me.

I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

John 10:10 (The Message)

At the age of seventeen I left my family and past behind me and took a new name. I met my husband at eighteen and replaced my old family with a new one. I was still despondent though; I put up with all sorts of abuse from the people I shared my life with in order to keep my family together. It was not all bad though – I had a nice home and a good job. I tried to help everyone who came my way, always trying to fix broken people. If I was helping them I did not have to look at my own problems.

My husband and I were desperate for children, but I had two ectopic pregnancies and two unsuccessful attempts at IVF. We fostered a friend’s child but that was not enough for my husband so he left me for my best friend and had a baby with her. Once again my family was gone. I was devastated and broken so I looked to alcohol and drugs to take away the pain. I was trapped in active addiction for the next eight years. I tried many times to give up and get out but each time I failed I’d lose a little more hope – until all my hope was gone.

When I look back I can now see that God has looked after me throughout my life. In the slums of Glasgow the local minister and his wife would bring food to our family. I was in a Church of Scotland children’s home and gave my heart to Jesus as a child and I know that I was saved many times as an adult, when really I should have died.

I met several people from New Life Church when I was selling The Big Issue in Carmarthen. One day, when I was in a drug-induced haze and full of poison, Jeff and Elaine approached me and prayed for me. I had a very bad abscess, the worst I’d ever had or seen, but was amazed when it was gone the next day. I saw Elaine again a few days later and she could see that it was better.

In August 2009 I went to Melanie and Michael’s wedding – they were two of my old using buddies. I was overwhelmed with a surge of happiness and felt like I had come home. I saw the difference in Michael and Mel and it was so attractive that I wanted some of that. I was five days clean of heroin but still using methadone, but within two to three weeks I’d given up. I started to work the twelve-step programme and I admitted my powerlessness over drugs. I handed over to a power greater than myself, which for me was God.

For the first time in my life I now feel the true meaning of peace. Today I can let go of all the pain, anguish and fear I have dragged along through my life. Now I can thank Father God for my family. Without the terrifying fear and anguish, which as a child I had come to associate with the word ‘father’, I can leave the broken past behind and be the new shining person that Jesus has plans for me to be.

Then Jesus said,

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)

My life was at rock bottom. I was in prison and had been ditched by my girlfriend. I could blame no one but myself. I was a long-haired ‘beatnik, into drugs and a so-called ‘free’ lifestyle. I was callous, selfish, rebellious and anti-God. Any way to get money was okay as long as I didn’t have to work for it. In 1966 I started my third prison sentence – this time three years for forgery.

I was half way through my sentence, with nothing to look forward to except another Christmas inside and another year nearer release. Little did I know that my life was about to change completely. One Sunday we were told that a Christian group was coming to show a film of a Billy Graham crusade. I decided to go, despite the fact that anything to do with religion was a no-go area for me. We sang a few Christian songs, after which they showed the film. Billy Graham talked about being forgiven for our sins because of Jesus dying on the cross for us. While I watched I felt strangely stirred up inside. Tears kept coming to my eyes and I couldn’t understand why. Afterwards, back in my cell, this feeling was still with me.

I fell to my knees before God who, up to this point, I hadn’t believed in. I wept before Him as He showed me all my sin, which felt like a great weight on my shoulders. I asked Him to forgive me, and asked Jesus to come into my life as Lord and Saviour. As I did the weight of sin left me and I experienced the greatest peace I had ever known.

Since that day my life with Jesus has been varied. He has made many changes, not the least being that He brought me together with a Christian woman who became my wife. Our children have become Christians too. Life lived for God is an adventure and I’ve found Him to be utterly dependable. God loves us intensely and wants our highest good. Jesus came to free us from the shackles of sin so that we can know and enjoy Him – now and in eternity. I was not looking for God yet He reached down to me. I’m so glad I responded to his love and went from prison to praise.

I was born into a Christian family. As I grew up I became increasingly rebellious. I didn’t want anything to do with God, so God gave me a free rein. I worked at BT as a cook, which is where I met my first husband. He was not a Christian. I had a baby and then I got married. I did things the wrong way round. Life seemed to be going well. I had a nice home and garden which I loved being in and working in. I had my baby, Nigel; he was lovely and I enjoyed being a mum.

I was only 23 years old when in the February I felt sick and started having headaches. One evening I was sitting on the settee when my face dropped on the left-hand side. I also had no feeling in my left arm. I temporarily recovered and went to bed. Next day I went to the toilet and collapsed on the floor. I was taken to hospital where again I recovered. The doctor decided to keep me in to be on the safe side. I was okay until the evening, then my whole body started to shake. I had no use of my left arm. I was so scared. I called out to the Lord, “Please help me” because I was convinced that if I died I would go to hell. They put a screen round my bed because I was making so much noise. That was the day that the Lord came into my life.

I was in hospital for three months. I had physiotherapy, which helped a bit. I could not do a thing for myself; my husband washed me and took care of me. I felt that I was a burden on my family. Gradually I got my life back. I found life hard, but I had my baby. Then I began to notice that my son’s weight was going down. I took him to the doctor. Initially he told me that there was nothing to worry about but I went a second time and he got us into Great Ormond Street Hospital. They found out that he had a genetic disease and there was nothing they could do.

I went home for the weekend. When I got back I walked into the room and knew that he was dying. I placed my arms around him and prayed to God, “Into your care I place my son.” At home in Kent my mum and dad had a second-hand car. It was a bit unreliable and they did not know how – or if – it would get them to London. It kept overheating when they got stuck in traffic. However eventually they did get to the hospital. When they got there mum, dad and my sister were praying for my son. My husband and I went for sandwiches and the nurse called us back. My son had died and gone to be with the Lord. At first I was relieved that he was no longer in pain but I also felt sorry for myself. The Lord told me that He too had lost a Son – on the cross.

I needed to put my life back in order so I went to church and my life started to change. Then my husband said that he wanted to divorce me. I discovered that he was having an affair so I divorced him on the grounds of adultery.

My Christian life has not been easy but God has given me salvation and a hope for the future. After 16 years on my own God placed Michael in my path and we are now married. It is a new start for both of us.

Joan

Years ago, when the children were small and we didn’t have much money Peter used to smoke quite a lot. I kept nagging him to give up because it was so expensive – and there were also the health reasons. He tried but couldn’t do it. One day I thought, “Right. I’ll get him!” Before he went to work I took the cigarettes out of his pocket and there I was – cooking – cigarette in my mouth, a long ash ready to drop into the pan.  Peter said, “Take that out of your mouth. What do you think you are doing?” I wanted to put him off, but it didn’t work. Nothing would deter him.

Peter

I did try to give up smoking. Sometimes I stopped for a few days – even a week once. I was so miserable that Joan bought me some fags in the end! I suppose that I didn’t really want to do it. I was smoking about two ounces of tobacco a week.

One day we were in the church praying with some other people. I felt God say to me, “Find a box.” I wasn’t sure at first but I kept hearing the same thing: “Go and find a box.” I couldn’t find any boxes. The only thing I could find was this washing-up bowl out of the kitchen. I felt God tell me to put it at the foot of the cross. So I did. Then God said, “Put your rubbish in it.” I thought, “What rubbish? – I haven’t got any rubbish.” My tobacco came to mind. I had about half a pouch of it in my pocket so I threw it in the bowl and that was it.

From that day on I’ve never even wanted a cigarette. People offered me cigarettes and I wasn’t interested.

Joan

All the years I’d tried. I’d really tried and it didn’t work. This was nine years ago and he hasn’t had a cigarette since.