I was brought up in a broken home with little Christian influence. Aged 19, I was invited to a Christian convention in Keswick. After a week of learning how spiritually dead I was and seeing first-hand Christian love expressed towards me and others, I began to read the New Testament that I had been given.
After a few weeks, and following a prayer for clarity, I read from Romans 1 and was particularly moved by verse 6 — I came to realise that I was also ‘among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ’. I committed my life to him and became involved in church life, benefiting from the love of the Lord’s people and studying the Bible to learn more of my Saviour.
A few years later I married and had a family, and continued to be involved in church life for a number of years. However, having wandered from the pathway, my marriage broke down. After some time, I became consumed with self-pity and drifted away from the Lord. But I never doubted his existence and knew there would be a day of reckoning.
The day came when I could resist the Lord’s call no longer and decided to meet with a Christian friend I’d known for many years. We talked of my need to put things right with God and others once and for all. There were questions of eternity I had to face: was I really saved; did I really believe; how could I have lived this way if I was truly Christ’s?
The road back has been painful and difficult, but the Lord is gracious and merciful. I’m supported by a loving fellowship of God’s people at Newcastle Reformed Evangelical Church, where I am once again involved in the life of the church.
I now have that sense of meaning and purpose that had gone from my life. I know once more that the Lord’s love and mercy is sufficient to forgive even me. Do you know this for yourself?
Ken Hill
