Challengenewsline - My Story

Quote of the Day
“Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, secretly all nature seeks God and works toward him.” Meister Eckhart

My Story - Wig Lanario

I had what you might call an ‘easy’ faith because I didn’t have to do anything. I could just go along and as long as I wasn’t a bad person, wig lanario.jpg

didn’t murder anybody or do anything really bad, as far as I was concerned I was on my way to heaven and it was going to be lovely.

Then sadly a year ago my world got turned upside down. My mum died and my ‘faith’ was no use to me. It was a shock at the time as it wasn’t really expected. I had spoken to my father-in-law a bit as he is a Christian and he tried to help me. My wife also asked me to come to church. She had been to the Enfield Evangelical Free Church in the past, so off we went. I was going to support her. I wasn’t going for me.

It was a day last March or April when a visiting preacher, Roger Carswell was giving a sermon. It was the first time I’d ever been in a church like it, when somebody was speaking and held my attention for the whole time, which was quite impressive.

Anybody who knew me would have said that was pretty good going. For example, I had never heard of grace or what it meant. As far as I was concerned the song Amazing Grace was about a woman! I heard lots of things in that sermon which struck a chord in me and which I thought made a lot of sense. I thought I would go again.

At the end of the service it was announced that there would be a course called Christianity Explored starting very soon. Here I was told I could look in more detail at what it meant to be a Christian and ask any questions which I might have. I didn’t at this point think that I needed to go but it must have logged somewhere in my mind. I did think though that I would return to the church the next week. Back we went the following week and continued to go back. Something was happening although I couldn’t have said what it was. It wasn’t easy listening to someone stand up and tell you that you were a sinner and born a sinner. These things were very alien to me. I didn’t know what Jesus had done for me, the fact that He died for sinners like me, to save sinners like me. Again at the end of the service, the Christianity Explored course was announced inviting people to explore further the Christian message.

I decided that I would go to this course as it was announced that no question was too stupid. Within two weeks of attending I wasn’t interested in asking stupid questions, just listening and trying to understand as much as I could because it began to fit into my life. When I asked a question, I got a real answer and was always pointed to the Bible. The most wonderful thing was to be in a position where I could ask people questions. Everyone I asked questions of and especially on the Christianity Explored course responded positively and in a way that I could understand.

This course allowed me to really explore the message of the Bible and what the Lord Jesus had done for me, dying for me and my sins. At this point I finally understood in a real way what the words of Amazing Grace truly meant. After the course had finished, I realized how much of a change had occurred within me. It seemed the most natural thing to say that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, who died and rose again for sinners like me. Although I had finished Christianity Explored I realized I had started out on the most important journey, that of a Christian.

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