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Viewpoint from Hazel Thackray 08/03/2024

Hazel Thackray
Authorised Worship Assistant, St Mary Magdalene Church, Gorleston
 

I have just been watching Songs of Praise, something I usually do when I return from Church and visiting my brother and sister-in-law on a Sunday morning. Today the team was in Newcastle, visiting a church where a lot of work was being done with ex- offenders and those released from prison. It was amazing to hear the testimony of those who had “found “ Jesus, and were able to turn their lives around, some of them having spent more than half their lives in prison
 
We do not have to have lived a criminal life, to suddenly find ourselves searching for that “something” that will put our world to rights, or help us deal with things better. We all have our own very different problems, whether they be loss of a job, finding ourselves struggling for money in this hard time—do we eat or do we heat our home? There is always illness and sadly death to contend with, one of the things that will face all of us at some time in our lives
 
One of the ex-prisoners in the programme was at a very low ebb in his life and had been speaking to someone who had been in a similar situation and told him about her “meeting” with Jesus. This gentleman went home and suddenly felt the need to pray, and got down on his knees in his room, which suddenly became full of light and he saw Jesus. He really saw and felt the presence of Jesus and his life has been turned around and he now helps at his church, volunteers and helps others in his situation
 
We are not promised a perfect life if we follow Jesus, we will still have bills to pay, sickness and death to deal with, but knowing that Jesus is on our side, is with us, is something that cannot be put into words. It is so amazing
 
In the words of one of the songs in that Songs of Praise:
When I found Jesus, He was standing over me,
I was broken, I couldn’t stand upon my feet.
He said a word and broke my chains, I was free to breathe again.
My life was saved by the loving blood of Jesus
 

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