So many times I thought, ‘That sermon was just for me’

As a child, my father was a lay-reader and we went to church three times every Sunday. But when I left home and went to teacher-training college, I realised that going to church had just been a habit. I was a hypocrite, really. I did carry on saying my prayers but that was just me being superstitious.

After I met and married my husband we moved out to New Zealand and I went to a church which helped me to think about what the Bible said. Then my mum back in Llansaint became a Christian and I started to notice a change in her. Despite losing my father some years before, I remember thinking that I didn’t need to worry about mum any more because of the security and happiness that she now had as a Christian — and of course it made me want something of that same security.

When we moved back to the UK, my sister told me Clydach was a nice, friendly place to live, so we moved here. God knew what he was doing, as we happened to move into a house just around the corner from what my mum called ‘a lovely little church’ — Bethel.

So following mum’s advice, I started going to Bethel. I asked myself, ‘What’s the point in being a hypocrite?’ as I had been for many years and was in danger of becoming again. I was challenged by sermons and prayers I heard at church and I came to realise that I wasn’t right with God.

Coming to know God was a slow process for me — but it is one journey I’ve never regretted. It’s funny how things hit you. There have been so many times in Bethel when I’ve thought, ‘That sermon was just for me’. And although I don’t remember exactly when I became a Christian I know that God has forgiven my sins and I have peace with him.