FAITH STORIES

"I was lucky to be brought up surrounded by strong Christian influences" by Lucy Batten

I was lucky to be brought up surrounded by strong Christian influences from my mum and my nanny.  I was never a rebel who stayed out late surrounded by the wrong people, I went to church every Sunday, Girls’ Brigade, Sunday school and Bible Class every week but the meaning of what it was to be a Christian had never really occurred to me.

In 2005 I went on a school ski trip to Italy.  On the plane I was sitting beside a girl who wasn’t in my year group.  We got talking and she asked if I was Christian and I said no.  From then on I began to ask myself ‘Why had I said no to that question?  Was I a Christian?  What did it mean to be a Christian?’

Over the next few months these thoughts challenged me and I really felt God speaking to me but I still hadn’t accepted Him into my heart.  That September I went into fifth year in school and I started going to Scripture Union with my friends.  In November an S.U. weekend was being organised to Castlewellan and I decided to go along.  The spirit of God was so strong and during that weekend I prayed and asked God into my life and my heart.

Since then I have continued going to S.U. and have become more involved in Girls’ Brigade.  Like everybody I have struggles, I have good days and bad days but I know that God is always there to celebrate with me or comfort me and that gives me real strength.

I am so blessed to have such a supportive family and as well as that a great group of friends who I look up to for their strong faith.  I was also very lucky to go to a school where a lot of the teachers are Christians and who were there to encourage me at the beginning and from then on.

This September I hope to go to university and I hope that I will continue to grow in my faith and be a good witness for God there.  I know that God has a plan for me and I’m excited about the opportunities that He is going to open up for me and I take strength daily from the fact that He will never leave me and will give me strength to do the things that I need to do.  On the wall in the classroom in our church hall is a verse that I love and always keep in mind,

                                    ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’

                                                (Romans 8:31b)

  YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A CHRISTIAN DO YOU? by Dennis Vine

   

That’s the very words I remember thinking as I walked to an interview for a church caretaker in First Carrickfergus Presbyterian. I can tell you, if that were the case, I would have told them none too politely to stick their job! Obviously, not having worked in a church before, I didn’t know what to expect. Well, thankfully I didn’t have to become a Christian, so I started work there a week later.

  Over the next eight years or so, I did my job, then most of the time I went to the pub after work, I did what youngish guys do, I partied! I thought if I didn’t go to the pub, I’ll be missing out! (All the while, friends in the church did their best to include me, but I wasn’t having any of it).

  Then, one Sunday evening just before the service, I was listening to our Youth Choir practicing, I thought okay, I’m going to have a look at this Bible and see what it is all about! So I took one of the church Bibles home with me, it was a King James Bible. It was like reading Shakespeare; I got to about the third chapter of Genesis, which was enough for me! The Firmament, by the Firmament, for the Firmament! What was a Firmament? I hadn’t a clue. Soon after, Margaret Bell introduced me to what I fondly now call The Northern Ireland Version of the Bible (N.I.V.)

  My search was on! I asked Ken Knocker if I could join Fit for Life, which is a Sports Ministry in the church. I wasn’t a Christian, but I loved sport and felt that I could offer something. Ken and Andrew Cambridge and others had a big effect on me. There was something in them that I wanted. Jesus was a big influence in their lives. Six months later I started an Alpha Course (which is an introductory course to the Christian faith), half way through the course I went up and asked for prayer. As I walked home, I looked around to see if anyone was close to me, because I knew I wanted to talk to God, but didn’t want anybody thinking I was a lunatic. I gave my life to Jesus that day in June 2000.

  I knew I didn’t just want to sit in the church and listen to sermons, I’d read the Great Commission, (which basically says to all Christians, go and tell and show others about the love of Jesus) (Matthew Ch 28 vs 16-20) it had a massive affect on me. I have since discovered Servant Evangelism, which is a low risk way of serving others with small acts of kindness. I have found it to be right up my alley!

In 2000, I finally asked Jesus to come into my life; I wish I’d done it a long time ago!

  Speaking as one who had a lot of wrong ideas about Jesus, I searched and eventually I understood that Jesus really is all the things and more that we look for in that special person or persons who has made a positive impact in our lives.

  Please let Him be your special person!

  "I came from a Christian family and was a regular attender at the organisations in North Street" by Emma Getty

I came from a Christian family and was a regular attender at the organisations in North Street; both sets of my grandparents were Christians so I knew who Jesus was and what he'd done for me at an early age. I was particularly close to my grandparents and when my 2 grandfathers died in 1998 only 3 weeks apart I was devastated, I couldn’t understand why God had taken these people who I loved away. My father read John 14 to me and explained that they had gone to be in heaven and it was the piece of the puzzle I never really got, the what happens after you die. I understood that God sent Jesus so that I may have a personal relationship with him but I didn’t get the part about when I died I would go to heaven to be with my heavenly father in the place that I was designed for since the beginning. After my Dad explained that to me, I prayed to God and asked him into my life. I had done this before but I guess I didn’t really know then what I was doing or why! 
I have continued to follow Jesus ever since but its been though, both at school, Uni and in work. God has stuck by me through a lot and I’ve so much I owe only to him, that I will never be able to pay back. I just try and do what I can where I can, to honour him in all I do. I know it won't get any easier but we weren’t called to an easy life. We're to be in this world and not of it, how can that be EASY!!!
 
Emma x