My Testimony
At the age of nineteen I was living at home with my parents in a place called Langwith Junction in Derbyshire which, as the name suggests, was a railway junction with sheds full of steam engines. It was a small village about one mile away from Shirebrook , a coal- mining market town.
By now I was well into studies at Chelsea College of Science and I always looked forward to coming home during vacation times to see my then girlfriend Pauline Marchant who lived about seven miles away in Mansfield. She was awesome and I considered myself very lucky.
It was during one Easter vacation in the year 1966 that I was ill in bed with the flu at my mums. I remember feeling quite low. My mother asked me to come to church with her as she said I would feel much better if I did. Being a dark cold Wednesday evening I reluctantly yielded to her pressure feeling I had no option but to go, at least it was dark outside and no one would particularly see me and where I was going! You see, I felt stupid and embarrassed going to church.
Upon arrival at a medium sized Pentecostal Church hall in Shirebrook, I saw no one there except two or three very elderly people - my mum never told me it was a Prayer Meeting! To my utter amazement I recognised the man who stood at the front; it was Archie Roberts and he owned a Fish and Chip shop!
I sat down sheepishly near the front feeling very conspicuous gazing down at the floor. Soon Archie began to preach having read out a verse or two from the Bible. He had read the passage from Matthew 16: 24-26 which went as follows:-
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
He talked about man being born into this world naked with nothing and leaving it in a similar fashion. I was always inspired by truth and this was true! As he went on about life, the word began to speak to me - what would it profit me if I were to gain all the riches in the world only to die and then - that's it? I would leave everything behind! As a student I had plans to live a full life, hopefully with a good job but this word I was hearing shook me up to think more deeply and seriously - what was the meaning and purpose of my life? Where was I going? What was after?
Being prompted by mum's elbow, I stood up at the end of the meeting, to walk out to the front and give my life to JESUS CHRIST
I knew something spiritual took place that evening in the little hall; in fact, something supernatural! I had walked into the hall not knowing anything about God but I walked out knowing this ...
GOD was VERY REAL;
I knew because somehow I had just met with HIM!! - Like I said, something spiritual happened, - I don't know how - but it did!
From that day forward to this very day some fifty two years later, God has been so real and personal to me. I had once said mockingly to my mum that if God is real then He should talk with us and for that matter us with Him!
I got to know Him more and more through His Word which was opened up to me by His indwelling Holy Spirit! He gave me what I was looking for - a purpose and reason for life and now I know this life with Him goes on FOREVER!
Brian Reddish