Scott

Melhuish

My wife had been invited to a Baptism by a friend who wanted some moral support for the occasion. This had happened on several other occasions and I had always stayed at home. But on this occasion I decided that I should go to Church as well so that I could look after our children and let my wife be a good friend.

I was not a religious person; nor was I a God- fearing man. The only press the church ever got was bad, and if you look back in history the church has been used by horrible people to do horrible things. I had also not been baptised due to the 'hippy' nature of my parents at the time. Church and God had never featured in my life.

The service had no impact on me at the time. The priest spoke about a bearded guy that died for all our sins and now things were good again! There was also a new person being brought into the Christian family and this was a good thing that pleased the whole church? But, my children were happy and looked after, my wife was doing her friendly duty and I had achieved what I set out to do.

After the Baptism the Priest conducted the Eucharist and invited the whole congregation to come for communion or a blessing. With that, the entire Church stood up and went forward. Not wanting to be the odd person out I followed suit to try to avoid any embarrassment.

Looking down the 2 lines of people waiting to be blessed or receive communion, I realised that my mother in law (a lay reader at the church) was standing at the head of my queue and would be giving me my blessing!!! I thought about changing queues so the Vicar could bless me, but at that moment she looked up and saw me. It would have been extremely rude to swap sides from that point on, and I was going to be having Sunday dinner with her in about 1 hour.

I stepped before my mother in law, head bowed and waited. She gives me God blessing and I start to walk back to my seat, IN FLOODS OF TEARS! I was overwhelmed by feelings of love, forgiveness and joy. I could not stop crying, but I didn't care either. I was so happy. The only time I had ever cried that hard and that much through joy was when the midwife handed me my eldest daughter.

The rest of the service came to life for me. Even the words of the hymns we sang were relevant. My eyes were open and everything looked better than before. The whole family goes to church every Sunday now and I attend 2 Eucharist's during the week before joining my wife and daughters at pram and toddlers.

That was the start of my story. From that day onwards I started to see the active hand of God where previously only luck and chance had existed. The week after my thunder bolt our landlord told us he was selling the flat and we had 8 weeks to move out. We had no idea what we were going to do or how we would find a new place in such short time.

A friend of my wife's, that she knew from the church pram and toddler group, told us that her father had bought a buy to let house in our area and needed a reliable tenant. We jumped at the chance and set up a meeting and see the house and meet the owner and see if this would work for all of us.

The house was lovely and in a great spot as well. It was near my wife's mother, the supermarket, the school we wanted our children to go to and very near the church we now attended regularly. But the most startling revelation was the Land Lord.... He was a recently ordained minister to the Church of England! God solved our problems and made life more enjoyable in 1 sweep of his hand.

We had already booked the Baptism of our 2nd daughter at the local church. I was now looking to be baptised as well and had met the priest to organize the event and to make sure that it was the right thing for me and the church. Two weeks before my 2nd daughters Baptism the priest came to us as we arrived at church. He took us to the Lady Chapel and said he had an important question for the family. He asked me if I would like to be baptised at the same time as my 2nd daughter. Once again I was moved to tears as I was so happy.

Mine and my daughters Baptism took place on the 1st June 2008 and my Confirmation is due later this year.

The first big test of my faith and love of Christ came when I was asked if I would share my story of faith at Caritas in the Brighton centre in front of 5000 people...... I made a deal with God for that day. I said I would give a good account of the story if he helped me with my nerves and get me onto the stage! The Compere started to introduce me to the crowd and my left foot lurched forward, followed by my right foot. I realised I was about to be asked to uphold my end of the agreement. So with a little help from the Holy Spirit I got on the stage, stood in front of 5000 people and shared this story with them.

I hope you enjoyed my story. God is always near us. But sometimes we are not aware of him. But he is still there. And if he needs you, you will hear him call you. God bless