Something was missing in my life
In 1983, my wife and I were living in Mayfield, Dalkeith. I was working in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and oversaw a big medical laboratory. I was happily married, had a lovely family, a successful career, but I knew there was something missing, but I did not know what is was.
In the late spring of 1983, I lay on my bed one evening and I started to try to make a prayer, which was a new thing for me. It went something like this, OK God, or is it Jesus, what is the deal? What do I need to do? I lay there for about 30 minutes and guess what happened? Absolutely nothing!
or so I thought, and my thinking was that I must be a hopeless case if God was not interested!
But God heard that prayer, and 6 months later sent a Christian couple from along the road to tell my wife and I the Gospel story, of how Jesus God’s son had died on the cross for sinners like me. I did not jump at the opportunity, but there came a point, when the man Raymond said, ‘where would you go if you died tonight’? It was a though an invisible curtain fell in the room and I knew for the first time I was on the wrong side from God, and I would not go to heaven. I now know this is called conviction of sin. We said, what do we need to do to be saved? The couple then led both my wife and I, in what we now recognise as ‘the sinner’s prayer’ in which we recognised that we were indeed sinners and needed Jesus’ sacrifice to pay for our sins. We both accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour there and then.
Something I could not explain was happening. Next, the man said we do not always do this, but we believe God wants to fill you with His Holy Spirit. We had no idea about the Holy Spirit but recognised something special was happening in the room. When they prayed for me, I felt something akin to electricity surging through my body, so much so that I had to sit down in case I fell.
The couple read us the parable of the sower and told us to bear fruit for God. They then prophesied Psalm 1 over my life.
There was a huge change in our lives, I could no longer use bad language, a huge weight of sin lifted of my shoulders. I felt as though I had, had a sauna inside my being, cleansing out all the pores of badness in me. I developed a tremendous hunger for the bible and Christian books. The Lord brought the right people into our lives who showed us the way to become followers of Jesus. This was a wonderful new beginning in our lives bringing the purpose and direction that I cried out to God for. God then blessed us in every area of our lives our family, our marriage, our finances etc. A neighbour even said that we looked younger!
In closing, my late mother-in-law Sybil used to sing this song which captures our story.
It is no secret what God can do, what He has done for others, He will do for you
With arms wide open He will pardon you
Come to Jesus and get your free pardon today (see below)