What made me choose to become a Christadelphian
God was at work from a very early age in my life. I was given up at birth for adoption and fostered for the first few months of my life. At 6 months I was adopted into a Christadelphian home – my Mum was a Methodist before she married my Dad and he was second generation Christadelphian. First blessing – being adopted by them.
I had a Christadelphian upbringing along with my two brothers and two sisters and we all attended Sunday School, Bible hour, Study weekends etc. which was never a burden as our ecclesia was like one big happy family consisting of many families. One bible verse that I memorized in Sunday School around the age of six years was “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). How many times I would say this to myself in future years!
In my early teens I experienced a life changing experience (for the worse) and this made me gradually push back against all I had grown to believe. Eventually I decided that there was no need for God and that I could do better on my own. For a couple of years that worked well and I lived life to the full being both complacent and rebellious. Life was fab – or so I thought!
Throughout my wilderness journey the local ecclesia supported me despite my actions – their doors were always open regardless of whatever state I was in and I thank God that they never gave up on me – neither did my family. Prior to heading out on my wilderness journey a lovely brother had been through weeks of bible instruction with me and we made pages and pages of notes. To this day I still have them and am so grateful for the love and patience shown by him. Sadly, he passed away a while ago………to me he was an inspiration. In 1996 I applied for baptism – a life changing experience for sure.
At the time I was married to a non-believer and in some ways this made my faith stronger. After 23 years that relationship fell apart and I went with it. Too many pressures from many directions led me on a downward spiral and once again the ecclesia stood by me whilst I lost my way and supported me as much as they could, in my 2 years of floundering. Once again I discovered God as my rock at the bottom when I hit rock bottom. I knew that life was so dire that I would indeed be dead if I continued on that track. Disaster often occurs in the Bible before deliverance – so evident in my life too.
Not long after that I met John and many of you know our journey and what brought me to Nova Scotia. Throughout my life I have realised that whenever God sends us on a journey He provides adequate footwear for us.
My relationship with God has changed. In my younger years I used to be afraid of Him. I now seem him as a friend and someone who is there to help me; I guess my journey has brought me closer to Him. I am so grateful for all that He has done for me.
Wherever I am in the world I know He is with me. He is the one constant in life when family and friends come and go and I always remind myself that the environment that I temporally find myself in is less important than my relationship with God and my belief. In times of total darkness, I am in awe of His presence.
I have learned that facing my fears instead of being intimidated is okay as God is there to protect me and no one is too broken for God to repair. I pray to God to give me a passion to spread His word and am a living testimony that He is always there for us regardless of where we are in life and the circumstances we find us in. How different life may have been had I not been adopted into a Christadelphian family.
Iam greatfull to come across this truth