Trish
Trish

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God still had a plan.
God has done many wonderful things for me. He has planned and prepared them meticulously. I did not let Him into my life for a long time, but He always had a plan.
Like many people I grew up with a knowledge of Christianity, first in a Roman Catholic primary school and then a Church of England secondary school, with visits to our local United Reformed church where I attended Sunday School. I had been baptised in the Church of England and my great-grandfather was a Scottish Presbyterian minister. I certainly felt that this covered all the bases. By my late teens, I had stopped going to church, as had my family, and I didn’t find anything wrong with that.
In my 3thirties, things started to go wrong. It took some hard knocks and health problems for me to start to take notice of the world around me and of my life. God made me take the time to start to look at myself and He waited patiently.
I decided that reconnecting with church was the answer. But which church? I found a Baptist church in Hockliffe Street, and they seemed to be telling me that God would not accept me unless I asked forgiveness for my sins through His Son, Jesus. I thought, “Hold on a minute! That was never mentioned before and surely that can’t apply to me.” I wrote a letter of protest to the two ministers. They kindly replied saying that they would pray for me. “How condescending!” I thought, but I kept their letter.
God still had a plan. One day I was driving home. I turned off the main road and into a quiet side road near my house. There was no traffic coming. And suddenly I knew – it did apply to me! I felt the gulf between me and God. I sat in the car and cried.
Shortly after that, God found me an Alpha course at a Baptist Church in Bletchley and there I asked Jesus to take over my life. Fundamental changes quickly followed – a complete change of career, with the realisation that God had had that planned, marrying and then becoming a parent. And returning to that Baptist church in Hockcliffe Street.
God’s patient interventions have been amazing. They took time because so much change was and still is needed. I know He will show me what He has planned next…