Let’s keep him in our prayers and thoughts. Ben especially appreciates messages and communication, so let’s support him in every way we can!

I am originally from Nigeria and moved up to Manchester city after having been accepted at the University of Manchester to Study Chemical Engineering. Just like most Engineering courses, Chemical Engineering is very demanding and requires a substantial amount of hard work and sacrifice irrespective of one’s natural ability.

It’s been fantastic being a member of King’s Church. I have experienced a lot of amazing things happen to me and the people around me, not by our power or the seemingly good deeds we do but by the special grace of God.

To be frank, the first couple of months in Kings were quite lonely. Being 18 years old, I was still a bit withdrawn and never really bothered to stay for tea, coffee and biscuits after service. However, I was approached by a group of wonderful Malaysian girls who made me feel so welcomed and comfortable in King’s.

In no time I was part of the tea and coffee team helping to serve after service. It is a blessing to serve because ‘if you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be servants of all’ (Mark 9:35). Being part of the team is just one of the plenty ways to serve at King’s.

Our God has been sooo faithful to me as I mentioned earlier on, in my academics, I have always been head and never tail. God has been my provider – I have a constant part-time job that is very well paid, flexible and filled with good natured people. God has been my protector and my guide – everyday I go out and come in safely. He has been my healer – the slightest hurt in my body, He takes it away and MOST importantly He is my saviour. For when I was still a sinner, He bought me with his precious blood, giving me new life in him.

Not only have I witnessed all these wonderful things in my life but also in the lives of my friends here in King’s Church. And so I urge you to get involved, join a ‘church in the home’, join a service team, go out for meals, fellowship with members of the church outside the church, serve the Lord God with all your heart with all your might and with all your spirit and see if He would not open up the gates of heaven and pour down His blessing.

Thirty years ago when I was a teenager my parents’ marriage broke down in a catastrophic way. It was a traumatic and painful experience for everyone involved particularly my older brother and my younger sister with whom I subsequently lost contact. It’s 22 years since I last saw her with no obvious way to find her.

Like you I’m sure there are some verses in the Bible that always jump off the page at me. They are promises that have shaped my life. One of them is Joel 2:25 which say “I will restore to you the years the locust have eaten”. At the age of 15 I remember feeling that my childhood and my family had been destroyed and that if there was a God I blamed him for it all. At the age of 17, when I gave my life to Jesus, I came to see that He was a restorer and through this verse he was promising me that he would restore the years that I had lost.

My testimony is that Jesus is a restorer who keeps his promises. When I became a Christian Jesus gave me a new family, the Church, who loved me unconditionally and showed me how to love. Later He gave me a wonderful wife and three amazing daughters, a restoration family that is itself part of a restoration community.

Two weeks ago Jesus spoke to us and reminded us that He is a restorer. I wasn’t even in the meeting but my family told me all about it over Sunday lunch; I read about it about on Facebook and we prayed about it at our Church in the Home group.

I thought about the locust years and the restoration years that I have enjoyed since and gave thanks to God for his faithfulness. Two days later I got a Facebook friend request from you’ve guessed it, my sister. As you might imagine we have spent a lot of time catching up since. She has a family I have never met. We need to take our time but it feels good to have my sister back!

Perhaps the surprising part of this story is that I wasn’t praying about my sister but I am a member of a community that received an apostolic word that reminded us that Jesus is a restorer and Jesus decided to confirm his word with a sign by resurrecting a prayer I hadn’t prayed for a long time, answering it and in the process continuing to fulfil a promise he made to me 28 years ago. Faithful is he who has promised!

Mark Lawrence

I grew up in Manchester and my early years in life were quite difficult. As a teenager, I had a really low view of myself which meant that I was unhappy for most of the time.

I first heard about Jesus when I was 18. I went to church but I really only went because I thought it was the right thing to do. I said I was a Christian but didn’t live my life as someone who followed Jesus.

There were many distractions around me and I started using illegal drugs in my late teens. Although I had a good job I lost it as my lifestyle became more chaotic. I became more dependant on drugs and my habit escalated to taking Class A drugs. I involved myself in criminal activities, ended up spending some time in prison, being homeless and living in hostels at various times. After many years of substance misuse my mental health was affected and I sometimes felt deep despair and even suicidal.

Years later, a friend invited me to go to a church and I committed to following Jesus fully in all areas of my life. I started to meet with a church where I lived and they became a family to me. They welcomed me, loved me and helped to get my life sorted out. A couple allowed me to live with them for 3 months and my life started on a journey of being transformed by Jesus.

Jesus gave me the confidence to look for work and the church found me a job in a local shop. I had been unemployed for over 12 years before I took this job on. Working in a shop really helped me and I could see that Jesus was giving me back all the years that drugs, loneliness and despair had taken away from me.

I met an amazing lady in our church who became a great friend to me and we were married a few years later. Jesus enabled me to find a job where I could help people be rehabilitated and free from drugs. I moved on to working with vulnerable adults helping them move into and maintain their own accommodation. Recently I have been promoted to manage a temporary accommodation service. This involves me overseeing the running of three homeless hostels. I used to live in a hostel; I now help to run three of them! This is the impact that Jesus has had on my life.

My wife and I are now happily married, have two amazing children and live in a lovely home. Jesus has completely changed and restored my life far beyond what I could have ever asked for or imagined. Whatever your life story so far, He can change your life too – for good!

Gary

In Nigeria, I was raised in a church-going family, went to Christian schools, read the Bible, was baptised in water and took part in Christian activities. I did all these things, but I didn’t know Jesus.

I lived life on my own terms, thinking it was normal and I was plagued with wasteful spending. My earnings as a medical doctor went into a bag with holes. I was bearing grudges, blaming destiny, and wondering if my life on earth had a purpose as I felt tossed about.

I started going to church more, but I was comparing myself with those who preached, thinking their lives were no better than mine, if not worse. I read books on eastern and western philosophies, positive thinking and magnetism. You name it, I read it, but I still found no solution.

At the age of 37 I met someone who made me realise I was living a life that wasn’t best for me and didn’t please God, a sinful life. I realised Jesus is real and alive, and if I stopped living life on my own terms and followed him He would take away my sin, heal my finances and give me peace.

I committed to following Jesus in all areas of my life and was filled with joy and peace in a way only Jesus can do. The Bible came alive to me and I discovered that it is God’s love letter to lost people like me. I realised I was created to fulfil God’s purpose on the earth and so is everyone else. My heart was not filled with bitterness and grudges anymore. I realised I needed to deal with my finances responsibly and honour God with them.

Soon after, my wife also committed to following Jesus and our marriage became strong because it had Jesus as the foundation. I realised I needed to love her like Jesus loves me. She is precious to me and together we have brought up three wonderful children and have seen them come to know and follow Jesus.

Over time God spoke to us about a change of environment and to move abroad to Manchester. Although it was difficult to find employment as I needed to do two professional exams to practice, Jesus was faithful and against all odds He provided a job for me. We now don’t have any lack. Praise God!

Anietie

My husband and I had always thought we would wait a few years after getting married before we start a family. I wanted to wait until I had completed my qualifications in my career and we wanted to ensure we were in a good place financially.

Whilst at bible week last year, God spoke very clearly to both my husband and I. He said to us ‘What are you waiting for?’ We were excited and obedient to what God had spoken over our lives.

In May of this year I had a beautiful baby girl. Praise God! As all new Mums will tell you it’s also a very tiring and emotional time. I did initially feel very nervous, as I hadn’t previously spent much time around babies, but assumed I would pick things up and become more confident.

There were some things that were adding to my anxiety. She wasn’t feeding very well and despite all my best efforts she hardly gained any weight in the first month. I remember reading my baby book and seeing that she fell into the ‘failure to thrive’ category, not very encouraging! Also the ‘sleepless nights’ were literally that. I remember the first time we came to church after she was born; we had finally managed to get her to sleep around 7.30am and we knew that we didn’t have long before we’d have to get up to go to church. That was a really hard day, people asking how we were, expecting me to be beaming from ear to ear, and I wasn’t. That made me feel so guilty.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love her, I loved her so much, and that made me feel worse. Why am I not happy? I should be happy, I have been blessed! What is wrong with me?

I’ve always been someone who wears their heart on their sleeve; I’m not good at pretending everything is okay, when it’s not. I wanted to be more dignified and portray togetherness, but I wasn’t strong enough for that. I would start crying whenever anyone asked how I was doing. But now looking back, I’m glad I was honest.

Some wonderful people in the church rallied around to help me in practical ways and to help me lift my eyes to Jesus. My husband was a pillar of strength at this time too. I thank God for who he put around me at this time, it really did sustain me.

However that wasn’t good enough. Surely there’s more to life than just ‘getting through’? I wanted more than that. I wanted to be happy. I knew there was more for me, but didn’t know how to get it. I felt numb inside as I didn’t know how to deal with my emotions, and didn’t know how to deal with this on a spiritual level.

Anyway, when my daughter was around 6 weeks old, one Sunday morning we were in church and she slept for the longest she had ever slept. She slept through the worship time and through the whole of the word. I kept expecting to have to leave the meeting to feed her, but it never happened. That morning after the word, Ezekiel called people forward who had suffered from depression. God told Ezekiel to draw a line and we were to step over this line, and move on from our depression. I decided to go forward. I was very hesitant; I didn’t want to admit that I was depressed in front of the whole church. But I realised this was my time, and I also realised God had kept me in the meeting for a reason.

So I went forward, began to take hold of what God had for me. I realised that I had to stand firm and trust God, that he had spoken to us, and would not let this be more than I could handle. God is not a man, that He should lie!!

Now this wasn’t positive thinking, I’d tried that. This was confessing the truth of God’s promises over my life. I realised that I had been listening to the lies of the enemy, and not to my faithful, loving God who cares for me.

Now things didn’t immediately get easier in terms sleep etc, that’s not what I had been promised. But my spirit started to lift and as I put my trust in God day by day, I became so much happier. Now, I believe I am completely where I am supposed to be. I love being Mum, and I am so grateful that I have a God that is bigger than any of this. His burden is easy, when we allow Him in.

So why did this happen to me? Why did I feel so down, when other people manage to get through just fine? I’m a Christian, surely I shouldn’t get depressed. Maybe because I allowed the situation to get on top of me, and cloud my relationship with God, maybe because God wanted to use me to minister to other people in similar situations. Either way, I don’t think it matters. All that matters is that God turned it around for His glory!!

God does care about our struggles; we don’t have to be perfect, it’s okay to admit we’re finding things hard, but we need to trust He knows the best for us, and allow Him in to our hearts.

I want to encourage anyone who is in a situation where they feel vulnerable, and are feeling depressed to take that step of faith and trust God, He is sovereign.

Jonathan Lim tells his story…

Jonathan is a medical student from Malaysia
who arrived to study in Manchester in
September 2007.

During Fresher’s week I got to know about King’s Church through a fellow student
who attended there. As I started to attend the activities during Fresher’s
week organized by King’s Church, my experience in university changed altogether,
from a student away from my home country to being adopted into a big
family of brothers and sisters in Christ. Wow, what a wonderful gift from God.
So, to all freshers, do get involved at King’s Church as it brings us students
closer together.

Many events and programmes organized help bring us students closer together,
building and strengthening our relationships. Here in King’s Church, it’s all
about building good relationships. We students have the opportunity to meet
other students and people from different countries, with diverse cultures and
experiences as we gather together and worship the one true living God.
During term time at university, I have much to learn and to do, but I also have
a freedom now that I am away from home. Well, “choices are free, but consequences
are compulsory”. How we spend our time, determines our future. That
is why it’s so important to be rooted in a church, like King’s Church, with sound
doctrine. We receive the word of God with joy and gladness in our hearts, growing
day by day.

When we face trials and difficulties, our brothers and sisters in Christ are always
there for us. When we face a problem, God will provide a solution. When there
is no way, God will make a way. When we go astray, God will draw us back to
Him. When we struggle with sin, God is there to deliver us. How blessed we
are! Praise God.

I am so amazed at how God has worked in my life during my first year in university
of Manchester. I have grown to be a more mature Christian, got to know
people, built strong relationships and am always looking for more opportunities
to share the good news with others: that Jesus Christ is alive and He wants to
live in the hearts of each and every one of us. Praise God!

In 2006, on the August Bank Holiday I had some pain in my chest. I went to the Doctor’s and it was diagnosed that I had Lung Cancer. At that point, the Doctor’s gave me 2-3 weeks to live. Richard and Dave immediately came and prayed with me at my home. All the Elders then prayed and anointed me with oil for healing the next Sunday before the Church. At this time, I believed from God that I would be totally healed from Cancer.

I then went through a full course of Chemotherapy. This took place in 8 separate weeks over 3 months. During this time, I was once short of breath and they gave me a blood transfusion of 4 pints. The white blood cells were disappearing so they gave me an injection to boost the white blood cells. This treatment was then followed by a full course of radiotherapy that took place over 8 days.

Praise God! – During all this treatment, I lost no hair and didn’t suffer from any sickness. I was able to walk upstairs and knew that I was in the healed in the name of Jesus. During the chemotherapy I was given some anti-sickness tablets that I didn’t use. I gave these back after the treatment. I was also given some medicine that I poured down the drain because I didn’t need it – I knew I was totally healed!

Every scan that I had began to show how the cancer was getting smaller & smaller. It was as if the miracle was happening right before my eyes on the screen! I was able to testify to the Doctor’s and Nurses about how God heals and that no sickness is beyond his powerful healing hand. I knew that God had healed me and the scans and medical evidence just had to catch up with what had already happened in my body.

I had a CT scan in late July this year just after Bible Week. The cancer has nearly all gone away – I believe that God will totally clear it, and I will have the scans to prove it. I’ve had no side effects or sickness and feel totally healthy. There are no symptoms or side-effects of the cancer in my life at all.

In the last 12 months, I have put double-glazing into our house, fitted a new kitchen, re-laid the drive and put some new cladding on the front of the house. I’ve never felt better!

I believe that God is a God who heals. He is a miracle working God. When I was diagnosed with Caner, I went through the Bible and wrote down all the Scriptures that mention healing. I then spoke and confessed them in faith out loud over my life. My body just had to come in line with the Word of God – it had no choice!

Norman Arrowsmith – September 2007