Faye's Story

"I reached a point in my life where I didnt' see a reason for living anymore..... when I got that phone call I thought it was too much of a coincidence and begain to wonder whether God exists..."

Faye was baptised in December 2006. She writes:

When I was growing up my parents had me christened and we attended church until I was about ten. When I became a teenager I faced situations in my life which made me think, if God exists how can he allow this to happen. Then in the last year of secondary school my friends turned against me and started to bully me, this made me feel very alone. I began to feel very bitter and down, I responded by living life for myself. I quite simply lived for the weekends and got as drunk as possible, not considering anyone else in what I did. I guess it was my way of dealing with things. It momentarily blocks out concerns and worries of life, but certainly doesn't have a lasting effect.

I reached a point in my life where I didn't see a reason for living anymore. As I sat at the top of a cliff contemplating ending it, my mum phoned me and said I'm not sure why I'm phoning, but I just wanted to say I love you. Little does she know what that phone call meant. I thought this was too much of a coincidence to have just been luck and so began to wonder whether or not God does exist.

I had an impression that Christians were quite odd, and still couldn't get my head round how they could believe in a God who could allow such awful things to happen in the world. I had a lot of questions about it all and began asking a friend. She invited me along to church and everyone was very normal, certainly not as I had imagined. So I began going to Sunday services for a couple of months, at first I still didn't feel I had the right to turn to God having denied his existence for so long. However over this time God taught me I needed him in my life, I could see how God was working in the lives of the people around me, and he showed me that I too could turn to him. God opened my eyes to the reason life seemed such a struggle was that I was living life for myself.

I started attending kickstart at the church, which basically explains what becoming a Christian really means. How to turn to God and how to have a relationship with him. At this point I realised I needed God in my life. I needed to ask him for forgiveness and change my way of living. So I approached the pastor of the church and asked him to pray with me so that I too could have a relationship with God. So we prayed, and I allowed Christ into my life asking him to forgive me of my sin.

It felt like such a burden was lifted from my shoulders but was still a surprise to me the extent of the impact in which coming to know God has had. God's certainly changed my focus of life, I now see a purpose to living. God has shown me it's ok if I can't deal with situations in my life because God can if I just turn to him. He gives me the strength to face things and most importantly succeed. Knowing God has a plan for my life, I no longer feel the need to escape. He's also shown me no matter how testing times seem he uses them for good. I now can't imagine how I'd survive life without God.