|
I have lived a HOPE filled life since 11.00 PM on
Friday 10th April 1959. That was the night my
life was changed for good, forever, after several
years of traumatic experiences, including the
sudden death of
my wonderful father whilst I was still only 12 years
of age. Added to this grief, was the loss I experienced
following the sale of the farm. Everything I had loved
was suddenly taken away, and it was hard for me as young
boy of 12 to understand why my donkey and cart and even
my pet dog had to be parted with.
Five years later, at the age of 17, I was still
grieving and so very unhappy at home in Ballygawley,
Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland that I ran away, not only to
try and escape all the things that made me so unhappy,
but to try and begin a new life in England.
This new life was to take me into the Army
and the Royal Engineer's Regiment
at Aldershot in Hampshire. Soon this new life was to
rob me once again of someone I had come to love so much. I discovered
that the girl to whom I was engaged to be married, no
longer loved me, and our engagement was broken off. This
stirred up all the previous grief that I had struggled
with in the past following the loss of my father. I was
so devastated by what had happened, and it hurt so much
to be alone, that I came to believe that there really
was no reason for my continuing to live, so I attempted
to end my life by swallowing a handful of tablets with
the help of alcohol.
I have read that "We can live for 40 days without
food, 8 days without water, 4-6 minutes without air, but
ONLY SECONDS without HOPE."
I was introduced to hope
by John, a member of the Parachute Regiment, he
contacted me in the Bar of the Naafi just a few days
after my suicide attempt. After a brief discussion, John
and I prayed together in Holy Trinity Church, in
Victoria Road Aldershot - This was my prayer - "Oh
God if you can heal my broken heart and dry my tears and
give me hope, I'll go to the Nations of the world to
tell them of the hope you have given to me."
I got up from my knees that night, a changed
man, as I began my personal relationship with Jesus, I
had been born again and from that moment on, I would
have the life of Christ inside of me.
It's now over 49 years since I began my hope filled
journey, a journey that has not always been easy, simply
because I came to faith in Jesus, but I can say that
The Lord has helped me to keep going when things got
rough.
I have proved many times, that God's GRACE is
sufficient. He has helped me through the most severe of
trials, including the
death of my wife with cancer in November 1983 after 23 years of
marriage. Christine was only 45 years of age and our
daughter Marella was only 14 at the time.
The Lord has also brought me through two painful
episodes of clots in my lung, and two major heart
attacks. The second almost fatal attack was
in 1994 whilst I was a
Missionary in Uganda, East Africa, with
my wife Ruth. We served the Lord there for six years,
and He enabled us to pioneer a new Mission which we
called - Uganda Mission Of Hope. The Lord added
100 Churches to the Mission and He also enabled us to
build a Village Health Clinic, and launch a School Of
Ministry And Theology.
In April 1995, the Lord helped me through a triple
by-pass, heart operation.
After returning from Uganda to the UK, I took up
Pastoral Ministry again and was appointed as the Pastor
of the Elim Pentecostal Church in East Finchley on
31st August 1996. I first attended an Elim Church in
Aldershot in 1959, just after I was born again and four
years later, I was appointed to my first Pastorate in
September 1963. I served with Elim for two years beyond
the stipulated retirement age and left in October 2007
after which, I served the Lord for a time as the Pastor of a
Church in Kilburn.
Since June 2001, the Lord has been blessing me as a
Gospel Singer, and I have travelled to many locations to
sing "Songs from The Heart.
God has also opened many opportunities to
serve Him on local radio, Stations have included LBC in
London and BBC Radio Medway. At the moment I present
"Music With A Message" on Radio Star Country and the
programme reaches people all across the whole of Ireland
and even into Scotland on 981 MW - To God be ALL the
glory.
Thanks sincerely for reading this story of what God has
done for me. I sincerely pray that you too will find the
answer to every need you have, by believing in the one
name and person that you can trust:
JESUS - The WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE (John 14:6) |