I became very ill when I was 20 years old and was hospitalised

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

‘I became very ill when I was 20 years old and was hospitalised, nil-by-mouth, on a morphine drip, etc. This illness led to me being in and out of hospital for the next year or so. At that time I wasn’t a Christian but my Mum was. Whenever I was in hospital, she was very often there with me. 

‘On one of these occasions, she went to get some lunch and sensed a prompt from the Holy Spirit to go and buy me a Bible. She thought this was a silly idea as I had no interest in the Bible. But she went to a book shop and bought me one. Specifically, she bought one with study notes as she felt the Holy Spirit saying, “Get him a Bible that will answer his questions.” 

‘Thankfully, I recovered and was discharged from hospital. I thanked my Mum for the Bible and put it in the bottom drawer of my bedside table. Over the next couple of years, my health recovered but I also faced other challenges. I had a lot of questions about the meaning of life. All of this eventually led to me becoming a Christian. 

‘I thought, well I should start reading the Bible because that’s what Christians do. I opened the drawer of my bedside table and pulled out the Bible Mum had bought for me. I started reading and as I read, I’d have questions. I’d look at the study notes and they’d help me. I contacted my Mum and said, “Mum, this Bible you bought me is great, the notes answer my questions.” Then she told me the story about when she bought that Bible.

‘Romans 5.8 is a verse that stood out to me particularly. It says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

‘Once I became a Christian and looked back, I saw many ways in which God used other people to show his love for me, such as Mum buying that Bible. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t interested at that stage in my life – God had not given up on me. 

‘A significant part of me coming to faith was learning to believe and trust that God wouldn’t only love me if I became a Christian, he loved me regardless of my response to that love. I think Romans 5.8 made that point to me very strongly.’