Please read the testimony of how Vanessa, a member of our church, arrived on her path to being a born again Christian, and a little about her life, below.
I was brought up with good parents, but they had no interest in the things of God. As a child I went to Sunday school with neighbour’s children and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Sunday school teacher told us if we had any problems to pray to Jesus and He would help us, and I found this to be true.
I believed in Jesus and the Bible and as I grew into a teenager, I started to attend the Church of England. I loved the Bible studies and because I believed in God, I thought I was OK, I didn’t realise I was a sinner.
During my teenage years I began to go off the rails. I had this fascination with the Bible and was studying to be a religious knowledge teacher, I was also a Sunday school teacher at 16 and really enjoyed it, I seemed to lead a double life. About this time, I got involved in all the wrong things and went and did what I wanted. About this time, I was confirmed but at the ceremony I felt I was not worthy, I knew something was wrong with me spiritually.
As things worsened in my life my parents said they couldn’t put up with me any longer and if I persisted in this way of life, I would have to leave home, even my grandparents agreed who up until then had stuck up for me.
Things were so bad that I found a flat to move to, it was very bad, but I was so stubborn I didn’t care. After another weekend of rows, I was to move out the Friday, but on the Monday four days before I was to move out, as I sat down at the table that morning, a voice spoke to me. “You don’t really want to leave home Vanessa?” said the Voice. Deep down I didn’t want to leave. I answered, “no I don’t”. “You know your mother loves you, she really cares for you,” the Voice said. Yes, I knew and I poured my heart out to this Voice. “Do you want Me to help you, Vanessa?” said the Voice. “Oh yes please.” By the next day I was completely delivered from my problems, and I wasn’t leaving home. I felt a lot better for a while but later started to feel very depressed; I didn’t know what ailed me.
I started to go out with a fellow Sunday school teacher.
“Come back to church” he said, but I couldn’t, I felt too ashamed, and everyone knew my business. He kept nagging me to go at every opportunity so in the end I agreed to go. That night I went was November 3rd 1968. I sat at the back so no-one would see me. As the preacher was preaching, he didn’t know me, but he seemed to know everything about me, even the very chapter of the Bible that had often convicted me. Finally, he said these words, “for you are bought with a price, even the price of Blood”, and I sobbed and sobbed. I had tried to hide myself and now everyone was looking at me. At that moment I knew that God had forgiven me from all my sins. I ran home afterwards to tell my mother the Good News. I said, “Guess what! God has forgiven me for everything I’ve done wrong”. My mother said, “I haven’t forgotten what you did”. My mother couldn’t forgive me, but a Holy God had forgiven me.
That night was the most important night of my life.
Vanessa Bowyer
If you have been affected by any topic in the above testimony, please feel free to contact a member of the team here or reach out to your local support network.