Apologies in advance, this may be a bit long!
My faith journey started in 2017 when my DS2 was 4.5 and wanted to see the church bell and how it was rung. I wouldn’t normally have been brave enough to just wander in to a church and be nosey as I wasn’t a very confident, outgoing person, socially awkward and had quite a few pre-conceptions about people who went to church but something prompted me to do it that day. DS was invited to come back the next day to try ringing it. We started just nipping in for ten mins on a Sunday before a service for that purpose. Gradually began joining in with their Messy Church for something to do with DS.
I was similar in that faith/church was something other people did, but it wasn’t really my thing.
18 months in and I stayed for a midnight mass service. The sermon felt personal to me and made me a bit emotional. By this point I had also made some great friendships with a few of the regulars and “staff”, ( including N who was a lay minister. Important for later)
I also got involved in a few events, began enjoying a few of the services and soon the building felt like home for me, but I still wasn’t really that interested in faith.
By March 2020, just before the first National covid lockdown, I had made steps in to faith and was exploring what that could mean for me. My friendship with N had grown to a point where I felt comfortable asking him to inter the ashes of my DS1 who had passed away 16 years before, aged 11 days. I had found someone who I trusted enough to place those ashes in a final resting place.
As my DH, myself and N were stood in the rain having the interment service, I was in the middle holding an umbrella trying to keep us all dry.
Even after 16 years, it was incredibly hard and emotional, and N could see I was struggling. Without breaking stride from the service, he prised the umbrella from my hand, and in that moment I just crumbled completely. All the grief I had been carrying for 16 years came out and was handed over with that umbrella. I was ready to let it all go.
That was my first big “God Moment”. It was a weight completely lifted.
Since then, lots of things have happened!
N and I have become best friends, and we’ve supported each other in our individual faith journeys. N decided to explore ordained ministry and was made Deacon in 2024.
This meant that he was able to Baptise me a few months later.
An extra special celebration, as not only was I Baptised by my best friend, who had played a huge part in my coming to faith, but I was also the first person he Baptised!
It was a privilege for us both ☺️
N has since been ordained a Priest and has had to move on to another church in the town for his 3 year placement as a Curate, and I’m heavily involved in my church as admin and other duties.
My friendship with N and the others has changed me for the better, I have a great support network now when life hits hard, and my faith gets stronger all the time. I’m much more confident now too, having to meet new people all the time and attend church related meetings & events that lots of priests/ministers/archdeacons/Bishops also frequent.
If someone had told me 7 years ago that I would be where I am now, I would have laughed at them and told them to get lost as I was the least churchy person ever, to the point that N didn’t think I’d come back after that first visit 😂
I am so so sorry to everyone that this turned out as long as a sermon!!