A real God working in real people's lives...

With God in my life, I know anything is possible

I grew up going to church, but drifted away when I was a teenager. When I was 18 I traveled to America to work in a traveling carnival. By that point I was drinking, smoking and experimenting with drugs. I got involved with a carnie, Johnny, and although he was a heavy drugs user and I was an occasional user, I figured I could sort him out. Love is blind. When I look back now at some of the situations Johnny put me in, I think I must have been crazy. At one point we were living on the streets in Miami, Johnny working ten hours a day and I just wandered the streets, often feeling terrified and always hungry.

It was while we were hitchhiking from Florida to Ohio that I had my first experience of God’s love in action. A stranger picked us up in Georgia and took us 1,000 miles, paying for food and motel rooms on the way. He said it was because he was a Christian and I was blown away by this.

Johnny and I married and settled in Scotland, but he wouldn’t quit the drugs. He left when I was pregnant with our second son. I haven’t seen him since.

I began to go to the local church and met some wonderful people. After a couple of years and continued friendships from people in my church, I became a Christian.

Six years ago, my eldest son Iain, who was 15 at the time, broke his neck on a bouncy castle. He was left paralysed from the chest down and spent nine months in a hospital 70 miles from home. I gave up my job to travel every day to encourage and support him. I couldn’t have done this without God, and without my church family. Envelopes full of petrol money would be pushed through my door, and Iain’s attitude was inspirational. Before his accident he was a free runner and skateboarder. I feared for his mental health, but we had people praying all over the world and, through God’s grace, Iain has remained strong and still amazes me with his positive attitude.

With God in my life, I know anything is possible and I only wish I could thank the stranger in Georgia.

by Pat Hanson from Scotland