Hello Laura. Thank you for agreeing to talk about how you came to follow Jesus. Could you tell me a little about yourself and how you saw life before you made that choice?

Well…when I was at school, problems at home made me feel insecure and unsafe. My defence and way of coping was to adopt the attitude that “I know best”, and “I am in control of my life – I know where it’s going – and that’s the way it will be!!” My security was based on being a perfect student and out-performing everyone else in my year.

How well did you achieve that goal?

I don’t want to boast too much but I did achieve good grades at GCSE and A-Level.

That must have given you a real sense of achievement!

Well, it had its problems too. I was so afraid I would fail and get less than grade A’s, which would have threatened my security. And – I found that being good at School didn’t help you fit in, and didn’t make up for everything else that was uncertain in my life. I realised that I was setting myself impossibly high standards –setting myself up to fail. Any failure to achieve the highest mark meant I felt rubbish!

I understand what you’re saying. At what stage in these struggles did you hear about God?

When I was 14 I came to Sunday School

What did you think of it?

I hated every second of it! I was so shy! I hated being pressured to join in. I swore I was never coming back to church ever again!!

It’s interesting you mentioned struggles before. My life during those teenage years seemed to be one struggle after another – struggles with insecurity and self-worth; with having to deal with my difficult home life; and with that making me have to grow up quickly. I wasn’t really sure who I was. I found it hard to forgive others – and myself – for hurtful stuff that had happened in my life.

So – how did you come to God in the midst of all this?

I had some good friends in KCF and they didn’t give up on persuading me to make that choice for God. It was a two-year battle of wills between me and God, but eventually…God won!

How would you say life is different now?

I’ve now realised that I’m not perfect and can’t be perfect – but I can move towards reflecting God’s glory every day.

Thank you, Laura.