Lyndsay’s story
Ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven
My name is Lyndsay. I am 48 years old, and have been a born-again Christian for around 15 years.
I was bought up in a Christian home, where attending church every Sunday morning and evening was the norm. Our home always had gospel music playing; it would either be a Christian artist on cassette, or my Dad and Mom singing together gospel songs that my Dad had composed. One particular Christian artist and song that sticks in my mind is Keith Green, the prodigal son suite.
As I grew older (and you would think wiser), my priorities changed. Going out to pubs and clubs on a Friday, Saturday & Sunday evening increased, and became the norm. My lifestyle choices were rebellious, impure & unsafe. Weekends of promiscuity and recklessness were a regular occurrence.
I knew who Jesus was, and that He died for me. However, my love for my own lifestyle, and my love for my sin, were greater than admitting my sin, submitting & following Him.
At 26 I was in a relationship & fell pregnant. Our first daughter Emily was born in 2003, and this I believe was the start of God working in my heart. My interest for weekend benders, which were usually fuelled by drink & drugs, became almost zero; the guilt & shame I felt the morning after started eating away at me, and I very soon chose not to indulge. Obviously, I now wanted to be a mom, and a reasonably good one at that. This shift in me no longer wanting to continue the lifestyle that I and my daughter’s Dad had started, caused conflict in our relationship. In 2004 I was pregnant again, and in 2005 Lily was born. I suppose I hoped that this would be a turning point for my daughter’s Dad. It wasn’t the turning point I was hoping for, in fact things got worse.
A few months after Lily was born, I fell pregnant again. Oh, how I battled with what to do! Although the nurse at the clinic didn’t say “you would be murdering your unborn baby”, for some reason coming out of the clinic (needing more time to think on a decision), this is how I was interpreting what the nurse had said. A few weeks later I made the decision to terminate the pregnancy.
I truly believe, that in Gods amazing grace, He used my daughters to bring me to a point of realising that I needed to make changes – changes that really only God could do.
When my youngest daughter was around five years old, I had concluded that myself and my daughters’ Dad could not live the way we were; I was tired of the constant battles, and I ended the relationship. Even though we were living very differently, it was a difficult decision, as I didn’t want to bring my daughters up as a single Mom. But knew I had to for my own sanity and for security for my girls. Within this period, I had started going back to the church that I grew up going to; again, I truly know God gave me the strength I needed to end the relationship and not return.
A few months in attending church and the Lord, in His mercy, brought me to a point where I knew I needed to repent of my past. I had been living in sin and with sin, and I needed the forgiveness that only Jesus can give. Even if I hadn’t of lived the life I had, I would still need to seek forgiveness, as the Bible tells us that “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory”
When I think of the person I was, how I lived and the many bad decisions I made, I think it is incredible that the Lord, who is rich in mercy, could ever choose me, could ever love me, could ever forgive me, and could ever call me His own. It blows my mind – I am just a sinner saved by God’s grace.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Many years on and I’m now married to a lovely Christian man who I met at church. We’ve been attending West Park church for about 4 years, and I am thankful for the faithful Bible preaching and for my brothers & sisters in Christ. At the end of the day, I am just thankful to God for saving me, the sinner that I am.
Amazing grace,
How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost,
But now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
Adam’s story
The lifeguard’s account
All my life I’ve been brought up in a Christian household. I called myself a Christian and professed the faith yet I was still living in my sin. It wasn’t until March 2022 when my sin was made known to me by the Holy Spirit, I had always told everybody I believe in Jesus and I believe that he died for my sin, yet I still had not repented in my heart. The Holy Spirit showed me my need for repentance, as there is no hope without repentance and admitting my need for a saviour. That saviour is Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who paid my debt in full, so that I – a rebellious sinner – could have eternal life. I do not deserve this great gift of salvation, as Ephesians 2:8-9 states ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast’.
Now I am living a new life in Christ, a life that will come with many trials and temptations, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He has shown me how to live for him and to do what is Godly. He is my rock and my foundation, the one I look to for forgiveness when I have done wrong, knowing I don’t deserve his everlasting mercy. He is the one who accepts me for who I am, an unworthy sinner. He is my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by whom I am made right before God Almighty by the shedding of his blood on the cross.
Pritchard’s story
All praise and glory to His name
I was born and raised in a Catholic home. I was never outwardly rebellious, and this didn’t help either in my pretence to be a “proper Christian”. I was also a different catholic, one who read his Bible privately, though much of its contents went over my head. As I grew older, a tension began to grow from within. Firstly, I was too scared to leave the catholic church because all the other alternative churches I knew were consumed by the health, wealth and prosperity gospel. There was more I saw from the outside which was not from the Bible that I was always repelled from this kind of church. On the other hand, I knew, I could not stay in a belief system which I saw clearly to be against what God was revealing to me in Scripture. It also didn’t help that I was living in sin, some which were inward and unknown to others. I was hopelessly enslaved to a pornography addiction which consumed my joy and frankly, I had no idea what to do with. A life of self-righteousness and hypocrisy were a façade that gave an outward appearance of a true Christian. On the outward, I was the young man who was put together.
Sometime in 2018, I shared an apartment with a friend who introduced me to a Pentecostal church. I’m not sure if I can rightly call it evangelical- but to me, it seemed a better church. Later during that year, still struggling with my sin with no idea how to deal with it, I attended a youth camp. In one of the evening sessions, the preacher opened the word of God to read 1 Corinthians 3: 16ff:
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
He went further to 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, and we read…
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
I don’t remember what he preached on, but as I read these particular word “you were bought at a price”, there was an incredible weight that fell on me in seeing the guilt of the extent of my sin. I knew that all the apostle was saying is something I needed to urgently deal with. Up to this point, I had not seen the seriousness of my sin before God. I was left under an immense conviction. I don’t remember the preacher helping me see where the remedy of my condition lay- if he did, I never saw it. I left the youth camp with a severely wounded conscience- convicted of my sin and wondering if God’s Spirit dwelt in me. This passage exposed my immorality. If anything, my own life showed how estranged I was to the reality the apostle spoke about and this terrified me. Moreover, it didn’t help that during the same camp, I saw younger people giving their lives to Christ and being baptised. I couldn’t do it- I was too proud to be seen that at my age, I was still not baptised. Worse still, I had been leading a couple of youth teams. SO, I left as I came, but with terrifying guilt in my soul.
The following year, 2019, is a year I will never forget. While I kept serving in the church- I continued in my hypocrisy; spoke like a believer and kept “acting a Christian”. The local economy took a downturn and out of frustration, I decided to go abroad to study for a Masters degree. I had no idea where I wanted to go but decided to take whatever opportunity to open first. The first offer came from Malaysia-of all places. I spoke to one of my Pastors, and his comment was “What if it’s the devil who has opened this door for you?” This thought terrified me, but despite his warning, I left for Malaysia- and I am glad I did.
While in Malaysia, I continued carrying the burden of sin and an additional burden of not being baptised. I sought a local fellowship and became a regular at an Assemblies of God near my university. It was in this church where I remember the preacher presenting the gospel for the first time to me, in September of 2019. He helped me see that: I could never save myself from the power and guilt of sin- but the Lord Jesus bore all of it for me on the cross; His resurrection was a confirmation that His payment on my behalf was accepted in full; that by virtue of his sacrifice, I am forgiven and accepted by God, and salvation is granted to me as a free gift which I receive by faith. His sermon was titled “Only one life”. It was a glorious day for me! Several weeks later, I realised that the Lord had set me free from the pornographic addiction. I had tasted the Lord’s goodness! Later in the same month- I got baptised. A stronger appetite for God’s word was formed in me. Every day that I was in the word, it was sweet to my soul and an unexplainable joy filled my soul for months. I soon discovered the doctrines of grace, and the Lord led me to a confessional church where these were gloriously upheld. The Lord began to stir a desire to serve Him and has graciously continued to guide it! All praise and glory to His name!