Lorna’s testimony

Testimony of Lorna Bailey

I was not brought up in a Christian family but my mother had very strict guidance on what could and couldn’t be done on a Sunday.

The boy next door was collected each Sunday by someone from the then Congregational Church and my parents decided it would be a good idea if I went too so along with someone else we collected en route we went Sunday by Sunday.

I remember learning Bible verses and getting the occasional book mark for remembering them. There was one teacher, Miss Cole, who was very influential in my Christian journey and I will always remember her for the time in 1957 our young leader was in the Lewisham train crash.

He was badly injured and we sent him a card at the hospital and we prayed for him. However the following Thursday I went to the junior Bible Study group in the evening and we were told that he had sadly died of his injuries.

That shook us all and we were helped through our sorrow and disbelief by Miss Cole. Her faith was unshakeable and she was there for us. She was one person who journeyed alongside me over many years.

In the mid 1960’s once a month there was a youth service at Clover Street Congregational Church (now Emmaus) and a group of us would travel up for these services. One young man took the service one evening and he based his sermon on the Monkees hit ‘Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer, couldn’t leave her if I tried’ – changing the words from her to his.

Those words still speak to me as I know that despite everything that goes on God doesn’t leave me. That young man went into the ministry of the church and has now retired but when I was in Yorkshire last year he took the service at the church I went to (he only went there once a year!) and I spoke to him afterwards about how those words had stayed with me all the years.

My mother eventually started coming to church and was a much loved member of the congregation, taking an active part in the Women’s Guild which is how I think I got into knitting as she was always knitting squares for blankets.

Over the years my faith has had its ups and downs but I know that God has always been with me in them and supported and strengthened me in the difficult times of life.

On my first visit to Holy Island , off the coast of Northumberland, I picked up a pebble from the beach. Half of it is light coloured and the other half is dark but I keep that stone to remind me that God is with me in the good times and the bad but just as the stone is one entity we are joined together in God’s love.

I have a collection of stones that have come from special places and they all have a special memory for me. There has never been a ‘eureka moment but God has been working in me throughout my life and enabling and helping me to do things that I would not have thought I was capable of but with God standing by my side I have been able to do.

Always think of JOY – Jesus first, others second and yourself last but if you turn it round and make YOJ the word has no sense and you will be in a muddle and you will be in a mess. May God journey with you through life and continue to stand with you in the days to come.

Lorna Bailey