- Sep 1, 2017
- 6
- 4
- 48
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Faith
- Presbyterian
- Marital Status
- Single
I was born to Christian parents and brought up by their faithful discipline and instruction to know and love the Lord. I cannot recall a time when I didn't believe in the God they taught me about and whom I came to know in the Scriptures.
However I struggled greatly with assurance and was constantly doubting my salvation. I never felt that I had fully repented of my sins because I didn't think that I felt sorry enough to warrant pardon. The remnants of this struggle are still there but by God's grace I've come to see that the answer to the problem of sin, including my own coldness, lies not in me but in the sure mercy of God. This mercy is based not on my own merits but on the full sufficiency of the atoning work of Christ on the cross. With the faithful support of fellow believers and ministers of the gospel I have learnt to look to Christ and not to myself for the ground of my hope.
I would like to testify to the unsurpassed mercy of God in plucking from the fire sinners like myself and adopting them as his own children. He has been a gracious and merciful Father and a faithful Saviour in all my troubles.
At the age of 21 I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia following a period of psychosis and delusional thinking that saw the breakdown of my friendships and great difficulties at home and at college. I was hospitalised and sectioned and put on medication and have been ever since.
The Lord drew very close during this time and despite my confused thoughts I knew and felt his presence in an amazing way.
For thirteen years I struggled with medication that didn't adequately treat my symptoms and things came to a head in 2010 when I stopped taking the drugs and plunged once again into psychosis. Sectioned again, I was put on a different medication regime and things changed completely.
In his goodness God provided a drug regime that has worked far better than any other I have known and my life has been completely turned around. My work situation has improved markedly and my relationships at home and at church have all been restored. I am reading again and have completed an online degree and am starting another this year. It's almost like I'm starting my life again, almost a second childhood.
Please pray for me that I would learn to love and enter into relationships with others with wisdom and sensitivity and that in his mercy God would continue to keep me faithful to him.
Please also remember all those who suffer with mental health difficulties of whatever kind. Truly our ultimate hope is in Christ for he is able to give hope in the most hopeless situations.
However I struggled greatly with assurance and was constantly doubting my salvation. I never felt that I had fully repented of my sins because I didn't think that I felt sorry enough to warrant pardon. The remnants of this struggle are still there but by God's grace I've come to see that the answer to the problem of sin, including my own coldness, lies not in me but in the sure mercy of God. This mercy is based not on my own merits but on the full sufficiency of the atoning work of Christ on the cross. With the faithful support of fellow believers and ministers of the gospel I have learnt to look to Christ and not to myself for the ground of my hope.
I would like to testify to the unsurpassed mercy of God in plucking from the fire sinners like myself and adopting them as his own children. He has been a gracious and merciful Father and a faithful Saviour in all my troubles.
At the age of 21 I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia following a period of psychosis and delusional thinking that saw the breakdown of my friendships and great difficulties at home and at college. I was hospitalised and sectioned and put on medication and have been ever since.
The Lord drew very close during this time and despite my confused thoughts I knew and felt his presence in an amazing way.
For thirteen years I struggled with medication that didn't adequately treat my symptoms and things came to a head in 2010 when I stopped taking the drugs and plunged once again into psychosis. Sectioned again, I was put on a different medication regime and things changed completely.
In his goodness God provided a drug regime that has worked far better than any other I have known and my life has been completely turned around. My work situation has improved markedly and my relationships at home and at church have all been restored. I am reading again and have completed an online degree and am starting another this year. It's almost like I'm starting my life again, almost a second childhood.
Please pray for me that I would learn to love and enter into relationships with others with wisdom and sensitivity and that in his mercy God would continue to keep me faithful to him.
Please also remember all those who suffer with mental health difficulties of whatever kind. Truly our ultimate hope is in Christ for he is able to give hope in the most hopeless situations.
