Andrew

For much of my life I have been working in sales and marketing as well as working in partnership with my wife, Jill, providing accounting services. During this time, we have brought up two children and now have four grandchildren. Both my wife and I have been involved with a vibrant local church and experienced great times. However, I have also experienced family loss, illness, redundancy, and the stresses of life that we all go through.

In my early 30s (not the 1930s!!), we often went as a family to Christian festivals like Spring Harvest. Our kids loved it, and we did too. On one occasion, we went to Spring Harvest at Minehead and powerfully experienced God filling us with His Holy Spirit. That totally changed our lives. Although we had received the Holy Spirit when we first invited Jesus into our lives, on this occasion it was like a total refilling to overflowing. An outpouring of joy was gently given by God. Perhaps that was to reassure us, that during hard times his joy would remain with us. We both regularly ask Jesus to fill us afresh with His Spirit, because we leak!!

One example of a hard time was when both my wife and I were made redundant within a month of each other. We had to dramatically rein in our spending and even started to redecorate the house in preparation to sell. But even though times were hard, we were always conscious that the Holy Spirit was with us. Jesus did promise “I will never leave you or forsake you” and this is something that we tangibly felt. God provided all that we needed at that time.

I have found that when you open the ‘door’ of your life to Jesus, he comes in and enjoys friendship with you, helps you navigate life, and gives you a hope for the future.