Peterhead Methodist Church
Louise's Testimony
Hi, I'm Louise Forbes. I first heard about Jesus when I went to Sunday School, but made my first commitment when I was nine or ten. My mum and I stood forward at a Billy Graham meeting. My mum took ill with cancer and after three long years of illness she died. My mum was an amazing woman. She was a great witness for God. After my mum died I backslid. I turned hostile towards God. I couldn't deal with the hurt. I had a little sister of 4 years old, why did God take her mum away? I had all these questions and no one to talk to to. I went to secondary school and did all the teenage things. I was smoking and drinking by 14, I was never home in time and then I started to miss school. I left there at 17 and went to college and got a job at Grange Park Residential Home. I've worked there for 4 years. At the home there a few Christians and when they spoke of the Lord, I would have made fun of them, saying nasty things just for the sake of being horrible. The reason being was this, I was scared. I believed in the Lord, but there was a lot of hurt that I had hidden away and still couldn't cope with.
My life was going through a real bad patch, everything was falling apart. I was having continuing family problems, the pleasure of working had disappeared and I was squandering my money away. Then one Sunday night I happened to be watching television with a friend when some programme about the Alpha Course came on. I decided, after watching this, to participate in such a course myself, to see if it would affect my life, help me to find answers to some difficult personal questions and to find out what was the point of my life. With hindsight, I realised at this moment in life, that the Lord was speaking to me. I made some enquiries at work and in no time at all I was enrolled for an Alpha Course. It started last September. I found that I could not wait for every meeting. I asked the Lord back into my life at the Alpha weekend, it was so special that I can't put words to it.
Since then God has done amazing things in my life. He helped me with my family problems and although life is not perfect, He has given me the strength and ability to cope with problems that do arise. He has also given me a new family, his family, which I probably don't deserve. He is helping me come to terms with commitment, which is something I feared after my mum's death, but I am committed to Him and am slowly letting others into my life. I am happy with my life and all because I am aware that someone loves me unconditionally, even though I have faults. There are times when flickering doubts enter my head and I am weak, but He is there to point me in the right direction. I am no longer alone. Most of all He has given me faith, faith to believe when things may not appear visible, my faith assures me that they are. He is in my heart to stay!
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