Testimonies of lives changed
2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIVUK)
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Cabra Born
I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was three years old. I grew up in Cabra as a lonely child because the rest of the children always kept their distance for fear that I would have another seizure.
I was having three or four seizures a day by the time I was eight years old and I almost died when I caught pneumonia as I was allergic to penicillin. Life at school was miserable and my brain was not functioning normally and I could not remember the lessons. I was branded as a daydreamer but in fact I was focusing on how to fight the next seizure. When I was ten I began to attend a class for slow learners in Whitefriars St. school but any chance of progress was hindered by constant visits to hospitals and changes to medication. I had such violent seizures at home that I eventually was admitted to St Anthony's, a home for disturbed children.
During my teenage years I began to attend a training centre. At this time I started to work as an apprentice with my uncle who was a metal fabricator. However, I had a couple of serious accidents due to the seizures. I fell down a flight of stairs on three occasions and I also had a bad accident with acid. Eventually I received some help in coming to terms with my illness through an IEA course. The threat of the next seizure was an ever present reality and I was overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness and even ceased attending my consultant.
I was trying to find solace in other ways. I would go into bookshops and look at some of the illustrated books (I never learned how to read at school). I found my way into the Bible shop in Abbey Street and purchased illustrated children's Bibles over a period of many years. I sensed a serene and calming atmosphere in the bookshop so I kept returning year after year. It brought back memories of when I used to listen to the gospel music of Jim Reeves as a child. I dearly wanted to be able to read the Bible from cover to cover so I started to do a correspondence course which I continued to do for a number of years. I began to use daily devotional books in order to help me to read a small part of the Bible every day.
One day one of the staff began to tell me about praying to God for personal needs as well as for the needs of others. I began to pray for healing in my life. It was around this time that the seizures stopped. The staff of the bookshop began to offer counsel and advice about the spiritual life of a Christian.
In 2009 I began to attend a Bible study for beginners in the basement of the bookshop. I felt at peace here as I used to go there for coffee when it was the Haven cafe. As I heard the words and symbols explained each week it was if a lock was opened in my heart. I began to feel the love of God and I sensed that having faith in God was coming more easily to me.
I began to attend regular Christian meetings and made new friends. My family started to trust me to do things like looking after my sick Father. They could see that I was a different person who was becoming more confident and more at peace. I was baptised as a believer in Jesus Christ my Saviour in July 2010 and since then I have grown in my understanding of his will. I have not had a seizure in the past three years and I know that God has healed my life in so many ways.
Romans 10:9
If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Psalm 119:46
I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame,
NIV translation
Psalm 149:1
"God heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds." (NIV)