At the weekend, I was fortunate enough to celebrate welcoming 20 new brothers and sisters into our Church family, coming from a range of backgrounds. I’d love to share the story of one of these individuals, Carol, a final year student at Leeds University.
Carol grew up in a Christian family, hearing about God from a young age, and as she looks back, she speaks of how she can see the ways in which He has cared for her throughout her life.
However, during her time at university, whilst on her placement year, she found herself engaging less and less with God, and began doing things on her own, without God’s input. Her life gradually became messier and messier, but in the midst of this growing mess, she saw God begin to bring her back to Himself.
She recounts how, at one point, a friend came back to Leeds, and was really keen to go Carol’s old Church, and bring along a friend, and so despite really not feeling like going to Church that evening, Carol found herself walking through those Church doors with her friend. She described this a moment where she “really felt that God [had] brought me back”.
Earlier this year, whilst struggling in a season of stress and worry, she felt reminded of the words and promise of Psalm 23, where the Psalmist speaks of God as a shepherd, who guides and protects all His flock. Sat on the grass, she was reminded of God’s promise to her, that he would guide and protect her; leading her to green pastures, and never abandoning her. In that moment, she experienced God’s peace.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.”
She found herself thinking about baptism after a number of people talked about it with her, and as she reflected on the love of Jesus for her, Carol felt compelled to respond to his love, and to declare, through baptism, that she will seek God for the rest of her life.
“Looking back on my life, God often has been protecting me, even when I didn’t even notice.”
I was struck by a number of elements of Carol’s story, but chief among them was her friend’s invitation. Carol might not have come back to Church, without her friend’s invitation. I wonder if her friend knew at that time that her desire to go to Church would be so infectious? Sometimes, we can feel that our invitations fall on deaf ears, or that students just don’t have time, yet, just as He was in Carol’s life, God is at work. When we invite a friend to Church, we can trust that God has already been working in their heart, and in this culture of spiritual openness. Can we afford to waste this opportunity?
