My Story

Being brought up in a disintegrating family was not a happy experience. As a child/young person you are totally dependent on your parents for a roof over your head, food on the table and a feeling of security. When parents are at war, children are reduced to misery and an ever diminishing sense of self-worth. I was fortunate in that I was at a Convent School where the nuns were supportive and my paternal grandmother came to the rescue when my mother walked out on us. This was the 1950s when family breakdown was less common. It meant that I felt different from my friends at school, I knew life was a serious business.

Sadly, a bad experience of family breakdown doesn't necessarily help us to learn from the mistakes of the previous generation. My sister is divorced and so are her two children. News has just reached me that my niece's son, an intelligent young man with 12 GCSEs, has had to abandon his A level course and as a 17 year old is renting a house and working in a call centre instead of being free to explore his academic potential. My niece has remarried, produced a 'second family', been declared bankrupt and had to move several times - not an environment in which a teenager can thrive. This is a miserable picture and sadly a very common one. It seems as though there's an inescapable downward spiral, a genetic predisposition to misery. So is there actually a way of escape?

When I was a teenager, I was taken by a neighbour to a Billy Graham Rally in Manchester and 'went forward', asking God to forgive me and give me a new life, led and empowered by Him. No blinding flashes, plenty of muddle but taking that opportunity revolutionised my life. We cannot choose our parents but there is no need for us to be imprisoned by our genetic makeup. The offer of a new beginning, to become children of God, is non-discriminatory, open to every one of us. I have been immeasurably blest with a wonderful Christian husband and an increasing family. Sure there have been lots of challenges, mistakes, ups and downs but God has given us direction and empowerment, just as he promises to anyone who commits their life to Him.

This life experience has made me very aware of the difficulties of so many young people being brought up in a culture with no moral compass and so few Christian role models. Jesus 'stands at the door and knocks', He doesn't barge into our lives, He waits for us to invite Him in. Then a new life can begin, whether we're young or old, and God can, with us, bring hope and help to those around us.