My Testimony

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My Testimony

When I was asked to give my testimony I thought, OK, but it is not particularly dramatic.  I was watching the film Amazing Grace the other day and there is one part where William Wilberforce is talking to his former pastor about his faith, he says ‘it is growing slowly,  there have not been any bolts of lightning’ but the pastor replies – ‘God sometimes does his work with gentle drizzle not storms – drip, drip, drip.’  I was struck by this analogy and thought that really is how it has been for me.  And when I think about it, that is probably the way it had to be, because I am not someone who does dramatic things, I like things in routine and I like to take my time on making decisions.

I grew up in a Christian home and went to church regularly and enjoyed the activities most of the time.  I always considered myself a Christian and tried to follow the teachings of the bible although to varying degrees at different times of my life.  After school I went to University and continued to try and attend church regularly but was not very successful.  However, when I returned from my three years studying Physiotherapy I went to live with my parents again.  I then got back into the routine of going to church and that’s what it really was, a routine.  I got to the stage where I began to question why I went to church.  Was I just going because that is what I had always done and it was the easy thing to do or was there another reason?  But I did know one thing, it just didn’t feel right not going to church.

I can’t remember exactly how things progressed from there, but there were a number of factors that influenced my growth as a Christian.

In 2004 I went on the first of what became an annual 2-week ministry trip to Africa with a small Christian charity called Smile International.  The main reason for me going on these trips was that that was the sort of holiday that I enjoyed – being active, doing something worthwhile.  During these trips I did practical work (painting, tiling floors etc).  The ministry side of it was something I went along with but didn’t really relish.  However, through my experiences there I saw the great faith in God that the people I met had and this really challenged me.

In 2005 my home church had its 100^th anniversary and during the celebrations for that I began to think, if this church has been around for 100 years there has got to be more to it than people just turning up because that is what they had always done.   From this and the things people said to me at the time I realised I had to make a decision for myself.

In 2006 I helped to set up a youth group at my church and then took on some of the leadership responsibility there.  This included leading sessions and taking bible studies.  As I was leading the bible studies I was again challenged – do I really believe these things that I am talking about with the young people?

Eventually, after a lot of deliberation, in June 2007 I came to the decision that I felt ready to be baptised.  I didn’t really feel any different after the baptism; it was more after giving my testimony.  When I had to stand up in front of lots of people I had known all my life and say what I believed and how God had worked in my life it really helped to solidify my beliefs.

So, how have I ended up here in Nigeria?

For a long time I have been interested in Africa.   I even remember being at school when I was about 11 or 12 and watching a video about the needs in Africa and thinking I would love to go there and help those people.  I didn’t really think too much about it at the time, but maybe that was God’s first prompt for me to end up here.

This interest continued and lead to me going on the trips to Africa with Smile International.  During these trips my eyes were really opened to the needs and the opportunities to help here.  I really enjoyed the trips and it gave me great satisfaction to be able to make a practical difference to people’s lives.  However, as much as I can put my hand to painting or tiling a floor if there is someone there to help me, I was not using my skills to the best.

In 2002 I qualified as a physiotherapist and worked in the NHS in the London.  I really enjoyed my job and gained experience and promotion and couldn’t see myself doing any other job.

So in my life I had three growing passions, my walk with God, my love of Africa and its people and my career as a physiotherapist.  I don’t really know how it all worked out but it just seemed to be the logical step to take to put all three together, so I started to look for Christian organisations that I could go and work in Africa with as a physiotherapist.  I found some links on the internet and applied to a number of organisations but SIM were the only ones who got back to me.  The process took a while and there were a number of set-backs but I really believe these were God directed as I needed the extra time to grow in my spiritual life.  Eventually I was accepted by SIM as a Short Term Associate, I raised the finances needed (I was amazed how generous people were and this helped to confirm to me that I was doing the right thing) and then arrived here on 29^th July last year.

I am working as a physiotherapist at Evangel Hospital.  I am really enjoying my time here and have grown so much in my walk with Christ.  At the moment I don’t know what the future holds for me.  I will be here for 2 years in total, but after that, I don’t know.  I will return to the UK to the job which has been kept open for me but at the moment I don’t think I will stay there for too long before returning to Africa again.  I will just have to see how God guides me.  I will just have to make sure I keep standing in the gentle drizzle.