My name is Lucie Boulter and I have been attending Melbourne Hall, a church in Leicester, for 16 years.
I was introduced to the church by my then boyfriend, now husband, Carl Boulter. He and his family had been attending Melbourne Hall through the generations and still continue to worship there.
When Carl first brought me to the church, I believed that I was a Christian. I had been brought up in a good home where I had been taken to church on special occasions such as Christmas. I had been christened and confirmed in the Church of England and felt that this was all I needed to do.
But, when I came to Melbourne Hall, I realised that this was a very different church to what I had previously experienced. There was a completely different atmosphere and, looking back, I now realise this was because of the presence of the Lord amongst his people.
I was welcomed with open arms and was overwhelmed by the love shown towards me.
God’s love
I had only been coming to the church for a few weeks when I realised that I needed to ask the Lord to forgive me for my sins. It was near to Christmas and it was the church’s ‘International Christmas Carol Evening’.
The gospel message had been clearly preached and I knew what I had to do. I was very happy to have been given a clear answer to the ‘meaning of life’ and did not want to continue to live my life the way I had been.
I had done many wrong things — some I was more ashamed of than others — but to know that the Lord would forgive me for all of them was such a relief. When I asked him into my heart, I felt his love flood in and, from that point on, I knew that I was his child.
I was still a student and so found it difficult to explain to my friends and my family why I no longer wanted to do the things I had done previously. But the Lord helped in those situations and helped me to grow as a Christian.
At that time, I was able to become part of the church team who went into the Young Offenders Centre at Glen Parva and, even though I had only been a Christian for a very short time, this work helped me to deepen my biblical knowledge — I needed to be able to answer the questions fired at us in those sessions!
Children
I also became a teacher in the Sunday school and continue with this work to this day. I wish I had found the Lord earlier in my life and so have a burden for young children to hear the gospel faithfully preached each week.
Carl and I married in 1998 and, since then, the Lord has blessed us with three beautiful children, two girls and a boy. Carl is a deacon at the church as well as being an officer within the younger section of the Boys Brigade and leader of the youth group each Saturday evening.
This means that as a family we are always busy, but I enjoy the fact that my children can be involved in activities at the church from a young age, so that they themselves will know the true gospel message. I continue to pray for them that they will come to know the Lord as their Saviour and I praise God for all he has given me.
As with any Christian, my spiritual life has its ups and downs, but I know that my Lord is with me every step of the way and, without fail, when I am experiencing the ‘downs’, the ministry that I hear at church is always relevant to my situation and helps me to get back ‘up’ .
I thank the Lord for the fellowship at Melbourne Hall and count them all as my family.
