Shirley Cave's story

    I always thought I was a Christian, until the day the Lord saved me. In 1976 my husband Jack and I left England and moved to
  South Africa. Jack died in January 1993 from emphysema, which had been diagnosed nine years earlier. I had prayed many times
  for God to help him to get well. In fact, I often prayed when things went wrong. Sometimes I even thanked God when I was happy.

  A few months after Jack died I met a lady called Gisela whom I hadn’t seen for several years. Gisela invited me to attend her Church. I said, ‘Maybe I will.’ Later in the same week Gisela put an invitation card for a Women’s Breakfast at her Church in my letterbox. I wasn’t sure if I should go. But, I did go. That decision changed my life for the better. At the breakfast meeting Pastor Roger Voke, a visiting evangelist, said that if we didn’t repent from our sin, then we couldn’t live with Jesus in heaven when we died. I sat there thinking that I was happy with my life, and didn’t want to change. Pastor Voke prayed, and asked those who were interested in giving their lives to Jesus to raise their hands during the prayer. The prayer seemed to last a long time, although it only lasted maybe five minutes. Suddenly, I realised my hand was up! I realised there and then that that was what I had to do, I had to turn away from my sin and give myself to Jesus.

At the Sunday morning meeting I didn’t know anybody except Gisela. The Pastor preached on John 3 where Nicodemus was told he must be born again. After the sermon the Pastor asked if anyone wanted to be born again they should come out to the front so he could pray with them. Being a shy person, I knew it wasn’t me who wanted to go to the front, but something or someone was compelling me to. Jesus wanted me to tell the world I was changed. I believed in my heart, now I needed to confess with my mouth (Rom 10:9). In the afternoon the Pastor visited me and explained something of what had happened to me. We discussed what I did believe and what the future might hold for me. I made lots of wonderful friends at the Church over the years, and they are still special to me.

I was so full of joy, I just wanted to read my Bible to find out more about Jesus. Life changed for me. I told my work-mates I had become a Christian, and I started to attend the meetings at the Church. Pastor Voke, the evangelist I had been saved under, sent me literature on quiet-times, Bible reading plans and other information which I found very helpful and encouraging. A few weeks later I came to see the need to obey the Lord in Baptism, so I was Baptised.

Jesus guided me back to England five years after I was saved. I wasn’t back long when my mother had a stroke and I was able to help care for her. I soon found a new Bible believing Church where I continue to learn more about Jesus and the Christian life. At Staincliffe Baptist Church I am very involved. I help in the Sunday School and at the Kids' Club on a Monday evening. I am blessed with being able to drive, and this has come in handy for helping others come to meetings. I know the Lord is with me always, and I just can’t imagine life without Him now.

My prayer is that by my life, unbelievers will see something of Jesus, and that loving Him is the best thing that could happen to anyone.