Anjela Jones' story

  “Humble” wasn’t in my vocabulary when I was a child. “Top dog” was, and I spent many years literally fighting at home and at school to

  maintain that position. Looking back now I can see that I wasn’t content as a child. I was brought up in a Christian family - very traditional with two parents, one brother and two sisters. We had a good home and a lot of freedom, playing out when possible. We went to two different churches on Sundays, which I enjoyed, as I got quite a lot of attention from people other than my parents and they were exciting journeys. The things I used to hate about living in a committed Christian family were the times when my parents tried to talk to me about God using phrases such as “Don’t fight. Jesus doesn’t like it when you fight,” and having to put down our toys and go downstairs for “family prayers” - a time when I seethed for half an hour!

I used to look longingly at other families and their lifestyles and wish I could join them, and I was really jealous of other kids’ toys and lifestyles. I spent hours dreaming of going to boarding school, plotting how I could run away, or miraculously finding out that I was adopted and had a different family. I then spent years pretending to be a boy and the highlight of my week came when the market stall holder gave me my change saying, “Here you are son”!! I craved attention and in my teenage years I wore punk make-up, dyed my hair, told loads of lies to make myself and my family sound more exciting, did a bit of petty theft, because I felt like it, secretly went to the pub, stayed out all night at a party and also did self harm for attention which I passed off as accidents. I didn’t like what I’d got in life and wanted more.

Well that “more” came when the church to which I was going in the evenings was supporting a tent crusade. Luis Palau came to Leeds to run a week of evangelistic meetings in a huge tent on Woodhouse Moor and we were encouraged to go along. I went and heard the message. I had heard the message hundreds of times before, that God loved me and that He had died for me on the cross, taking the punishment for my sins and that He wanted me to follow Him. This time I felt a great urge in my heart that I wanted to give my life to Jesus and become a Christian. One text from the evening, and one that had run through my teenage years, was “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you,” from 1 Peter 3 v 7. I was suddenly struck by the fact that God cared for me and loved me. That truth hit me and I went to the front of the tent and, with an assistant, I asked Jesus into my life, I cast all my cares on Him, said I was sorry for my sins and promised to follow Him. That was the moment I was saved.

I felt very excited and happy and when I prayed I felt a real peace in my heart, something I hadn’t felt before. I felt really connected to God and could feel a real presence in the room with me, a warm safe loving feeling that touched my heart and soul. The rebel in me evaporated, safe in the knowledge that the Almighty God wanted me, loved me and knew me, I had His attention and was important to Him.

God soon provided me with a great husband, Philip, and has blessed me with four children. Over the past five years I have become much closer to God, realising with God’s help that there were things in my life that needed to change. God has helped me to change my attitudes, my actions, to deal with my anger, the unforgiveness that was in my heart, and to come to realise the importance of obedience to God. I spent years being a “pick and choose” Christian, deciding which parts of the Bible I was going to believe in and now realise that was wrong. Three years ago I went downhill and was ill with a left sided weakness and muscle pain. I really felt God with me and looking after me at that time. A few months later I was healed of my illness at a healing service. One of my favourite verses at that time and now is “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” Psalm27 v 1 .