New Hope Church - Thorney 

Tina

I was first introduced to church when I was about three years old. My neighbour used to take me, my brothers, and my sisters to a gospel church. I loved the singing, and she used to give us little cards with pictures and Bible verses about Jesus. I cherished them — I even collected everyone else’s because they didn’t want theirs. But after a while we stopped going, and I didn’t really think about it again.

At the end of primary school, we were all given a New Testament. I tried to read it, but I didn’t stick with it. As I grew older, I became a rebellious teenager. Eventually, at seventeen, I was asked to leave home because I wouldn’t follow my parents’ rules. By then, I would have called myself an atheist. All I ever heard about church was bad, and I couldn’t understand how a God could allow those things to happen through people who claimed to follow Him.

I had a few good friends, but I didn’t really like mixing with people.  I met someone in the Army, and we were in a long-term relationship. When he left the Army, he moved in with me, and together we had two beautiful children. We never married — I thought it was just a piece of paper that didn’t mean anything.

Around that time, a friend of mine had a baby the same age as mine, so we often had play dates. One day I saw a sign for a “Play and Chat” group in a church building. I was hesitant because it was in a church, but I decided to try it. I ended up really enjoying it. The ladies who ran it were lovely. My friend eventually stopped going, but I kept attending. I made friends and always looked forward to being there.

One day someone asked me if I prayed. I felt embarrassed and said, “No — but my mum does.” Afterward, I kept thinking about that question. I wanted my children to grow up with good morals and some kind of grounding. So I asked if I could come along to church on a Sunday, and of course they said yes.

I went along and sat next to someone I knew, feeling a bit awkward. But as the first song started, I listened carefully to the words. They were all about Jesus and what He had done for us. Suddenly I began to well up — and I don’t usually cry at anything. I was hit with so many emotions all at once. It felt like something in me broke open. I remember thinking, Oh no… it’s true. I felt sorry for not believing all this time, but at the same time completely forgiven. I felt like I’d come home.

I went home and told my partner that I wanted to go to church every Sunday. He agreed — partly because it meant he could go to golf! I went on an Alpha course to learn more, and later my partner and I attended a marriage course because we had started drifting apart. But he wasn’t really interested, and I found myself longing for a deeper commitment.

Eventually we broke up, and I struggled with that because it wasn’t how I thought things were supposed to go. But the friends I’d made at church supported me, and I kept learning more about how great God is. He gave me strength when I needed it most. I had always been a worrier about my children, but God gave me an overwhelming sense of peace.

My whole outlook on life changed. I began to appreciate nature — really noticing its beauty. I realised that the bad in the world isn’t God’s fault; it’s the result of human choices. God simply wants us to know Him. So much so that He gave His one and only Son to show us how to live and how to love. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He died and took our sins upon Himself so that we could have a close relationship with our Father in heaven.

And it doesn’t end there — He is coming back. But while we wait, He has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us, comfort us, and help us know Him better.

That’s how God found me, changed me, and continues to lead me every day.