Maggie Wakefield

At that time, I was a childminder and one of the mothers whose baby I looked after was a Christian and became a very good friend to me.  One day when I was upset, she told me how much God loved me and said, “You need him in your life.  All you need to do is get down on your knees and ask him to come into your life.” So, I thought about it after she left, not really convinced it would work for me.

Sometime later I decided I would do it, again not sure things would change for me, and to begin with nothing did change.  My friend then asked me to her church’s Harvest Supper.  At the supper, I met a man who shared his testimony of when his daughter was healed from kidney failure.  This was after going through the waters of baptism.  He too decided after that to be baptised and described how, when he came out of the water, he felt so clean.  He was a smoker at this time, and decided he wanted to remain clean, and continue to follow Jesus.

I too smoked at that time and had tried to give up but failed miserably.  But I decided I too wanted to stop.  It was about 50 years ago now that I encountered this, and I haven’t smoked since.

Then my friend introduced me to another guest speaker.  He asked me where I lived and a bit about my background.  Then he asked me straight if I ‘loved Jesus’ and without any hesitation I answered ‘yes, I do’ – it surprised me too!

Now, no-one had asked me that before and I felt as though Jesus was there in the room with me.

Now, this may seem hard to believe, but I have shared this my testimony with many people, who have asked why I believe in God, and it is as real to me as that night all those years ago.  And despite all the ups and downs in life I know I have a God who loves and cares for me, no matter what, and sent His Son to die for my sins on a cross.