"I was bullied constantly for three years.
I could feel my inner self being squashed.
I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone and that
feeling of lonliness was slowly taking over."

Shell, short for Michelle, became a Christian while suffering from anorexia nervosa. God healed her and transformed her life.

Now in her mid twenties, her passion is to get people of all ages excited about God. She is an evangelist, singer, songwriter, speaker and author. Her powerful life story has many lessons for young and old who long to take control of their lives.

Shell grew up in a happy and stable family in north-west England, with no religious beliefs.

Her early role model was Kylie Minogue. Shell took dance classes and sang in front of her bedroom mirror with her hairbrush just like thousands of others pretending to be a pop star.

‘I was brought up to believe that you could do anything if you put your mind to it. I was the sort of child that would keep trying and trying until I got it right.’

By the time she was 9 years old Shell had realised that her attitude would not make her popular.

‘I wanted to do well and I was encouraged to do well but I desperately wanted to be accepted by my friends.’

Once at secondary school, things did not improve.

‘I was bullied constantly for three years. I could feel my inner self being squashed. I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone and that feeling of loneliness was slowly taking over.’

Her talent for songwriting and performance did boost her confidence. But with that confidence came teenage conflict with her parents.

‘I lived inside a verbal boxing ring from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed and I’m pretty sure my parents felt that way too!

‘I became more and more desperate for a sense of control. And so I made the decision to control the amount of food I ate.’

First she threw away her packed lunch, then skipping breakfast too. Then she avoided eating with her family. Soon Shell became addicted to not eating.

When she was forced to eat something, it didn’t stay down for long. Her weight plummeted; her health deteriorated.

‘I remember having my TB injection at school and the needle snapped in my arm because there was hardly any flesh to inject into.’

After four months Shell’s parents confronted her about her eating. The next day they took her to their GP who pulled no punches with his diagnosis. If she didn’t start eating again she wouldn’t have much more than eight weeks left to live.

‘I didn’t have a clue who I was any more. I had lost all sense of purpose. I wasn’t in control at all. I just felt completely helpless,’ Shell says.

So began the battle to eat a healthy, balanced diet again.

‘I would literally sit at the dinner table and cry, not because I didn’t want to eat, but because I now wanted to eat and found it so difficult.’

Before her diagnosis, she remembers an encounter with a Christian school’s worker. ‘Shell, God loves you so much.’

‘I felt too ashamed and too guilty to be loved by anyone, let alone God,’ she recalls.

Through a school friend Shell joined a Christian band as their backing singer. And as their friendships within the group grew she was able to trust them with her situation. She started going to church and learnt more about God.

Shell remembers one night sitting on the end of her bed. ‘I simply said, “God, if you love me as much as these people are saying that you love me, then you need to come and help me because I’m in a mess and I don’t really know what to do”.

‘I somehow knew in the depths of my heart that I was accepted and valued. I knew what it felt like to be unconditionally loved and the only thing I could put it down to was God.

‘Within the space of a year my life had been completely transformed and I felt like a new person. The old Michelle had gone and been replaced by the new Shell.’

About six months into Shell’s new life a visiting preacher came to her church. Deeply moved by his talk, Shell asked him to pray for her.

The response to that prayer was surprising. ‘God has called you to be a healer of broken hearts. Your purpose in this life is to heal broken hearts.’

Shell rushed home and opened her Bible at random to read in the prophet Isaiah (Chapter 61 v. 1) ‘He has sent me to comfort those whose hearts are broken.’

‘I went to bed that night wondering what it meant to be a healer of broken hearts. I didn’t have to worry because God was now in control!’

Next month read how Shell’s life has changed.