Amanda's Testimony Written From the Lauren Megarry Perspective!

Let me introduce you to Amanda. She is a member of Eagle's Nest Church. She could be the lady that sits at the other end of the office. She could be the lady that feeds your kids cobs on a Friday night. She might even be the lady you saw at the pub when that very loud band played. Before I interviewed Amanda about highly personal things that we intended to put on the world wide web, Amanda was that busy lady in church with the cute girls. It seems bizarre now that I didn't know her very well, but now the reader and the writer can start at the same place. Amanda believes in God but did not always believe this and one Sunday morning she told me the story of how that changed.

The journeys that God has planned for us can start in the most unlikely places. In Rock City, Amanda met her future husband and fellow explorer, Craig. She talks about taking drugs and the self-gratifying lifestyle she had adopted in a wonderfully frank and honest way, even in front of her young children. It is not a shameful secret that she tries to hide, but a part of her past that has shaped her into the person she is today. Craig and Amanda set off to Australia for two years of travelling. They tried many different religious and spiritual practises such as meditating, but it seemed more like a craze to take part in than a spiritual encounter. It's with amusement she recalls, “as if changing your furniture would change your life!” Even though their search had left them feeling apathetic towards religion, the fact that a search had begun was telling.

Christians and a tangible God were things that Amanda had never experienced. She could not identify with the image of God as a loving father as she had not had any positive father figures in her life. She also had a view of the church as an institution that shackled its members with oppressive rules and ruled with an iron rod of guilt. In her opinion, Christianity had stopped being relevant five hundred years ago (when the last Christian song was written) and Christians single handedly kept sandal factories in business.  Amanda had created a stereotype of Christians that is probably held by many people today, gained not through personal experience, but ironically lack thereof. Growing up, her church visits were dutifully made for occasions such as weddings. A “Christian” conjured no ideas of spirituality or love and it seemed to Amanda that emphasis lay on how humans are imprisoned by their sin, rather than their freedom in Christ.

When Amanda and Craig arrived home from Australia, Amanda became pregnant and had two beautiful girls, Polly then Lottie. Amanda described how, as most parents, she looked into good schools that could educate her children and prepare them mentally for adulthood. But she then found herself wondering who was going to teach them the differences between right and wrong. “The people I know who are non-Christian say 'If everyone followed and lived as the bible says, the world would be a better place' and that was my mind set, although I was convinced I would never believe in Jesus.” She had been led to Eagle's Nest Church after attending one of their summer events, 'Eagle In the Park'. She was not intimidated by the people from the church and enjoyed the music. It seemed that if there was ever going to be a church to interest Amanda, this was it.

Sunday mornings turned out to be one free morning for Amanda and her young girls. Craig worked late on a Saturday night and would be asleep until the afternoon. She decided to come to Eagle's Nest with her mother and found forty-five minutes of free childcare and doughnuts. She describes the joy in being able to relax and not worry one morning a week, but still felt that Jesus and God were not relevant to her life and that it would remain that way.

This went on for a year and a half until one very special night. Amanda had spent the evening with a few friends asking questions and disucssing of God was real. She arrived home, Craig and the girls were out and Amanda found herself alone, full of questions and feelings that were divided between hope and cynicism. Eventually she put the question to God “If there is anything in this, show me!” She then had an amazing vision of herself and her family walking along a beam of light towards God and Jesus, who were standing at an open door with their hands open saying “We're so pleased you've come back to us, we've been waiting for you”. Amanda describes this night as simply amazing, she was laughing and crying, overwhelmed with her new knowledge of God's love. But not only did she know now that God wanted her family safe in his hands again, she felt that God wanted her and Craig to get married.

Getting married may not seem so sensational to many people, but at this stage Amanda and Craig had been together for over ten years. They had a house, two children and Amanda knew that Craig had no interest at all in getting married. He also had no interest in God. He had come to Eagle's Nest once to check that his family weren't being taken over by a crazy sect. Amanda had experienced a real, amazing and dramatic encounter with God, but how could she sit her partner down over a cup of tea and tell him that not only had she found God, but he had told her to get married?! So she kept quiet and prayed for God to show her the way. He didn't leave her waiting long. Three weeks later Craig came to Amanda astounded at how God had told him during the night that he was to start going to church and they were to get married! Three months later they got married and have both since been baptised.  God obviously felt that the softly, softly approach was not for Amanda, and dusted off a few thunderbolts with her name on them!

Life would continue to change for Amanda and Craig. Although she had spent years working in the same place, Amanda hoped to find a job closer to her home in Arnold working term time, freeing up more time to be with the girls. She felt that it was what God wanted, but had to put her faith to the test as the next step wasn't yet clear. People around her assured her that no job existed until a friend heard of a job with Salvation Army, close to Arnold and during term time. Amanda got through the long and competitive interviews and her prayers were answered two months before Lottie was due to start school.

When talking about what has changed in the family life since they became Christians, Craig responds with “Everything”. He also brings up the point that he “feels guilty about things that I never use to” and they talk about how the guilt of things in the past was lifted away, but from then on they were much more aware of their behaviour. This impacted their daily lives and particularly  how they socialised. They gave up smoking and found themselves making new friends who were interested in more than nights out. Their family became much closer and stronger. Amanda describes how marriage became important as a Christian. She doesn’t believe she would have bothered, but now describes it as what “threads them together” and loves knowing that she and Craig are committed for life.  Amanda talks of how she believed her old lifestyle would bring her happiness, but now sees it never could, and living through God has brought her and her family genuine happiness,

Amanda came to Eagle’s Nest for a weekly break and ended up with her life completely changing. But God did not plan for Amanda to simply receive from the church. Unknown to Amanda, John had prophesied that Amanda would “have things to say and would be an important member of the church”. Meeting Amanda now, she is an integral part of the church. Craig and her ran Eagle in the Pub for a few years, they run a house cell group and are involved in KidZone. Only months ago Amanda was preaching on a Sunday morning. But all this seems unbelievable to a woman who is chronically shy and has suffered with low self-confidence for most of her life.

Now this is almost the part I am most shocked about. I did not get to share Amanda’s vision, I didn’t know her before she was a Christian and cannot see how much her life has changed. But what I can see is a friendly, funny and busy member of Eagle’s Nest who gets involved in all aspects of the church. A shy Amanda seems as likely as a sandal wearing Amanda! But she goes on to tell me how she her self-esteem was kept low in her youth, especially by her step-dad who constantly bombarded her with derogatory comments about her weight. Her self-confidence is an ongoing battle. Once she started going to cell groups, she couldn’t bring herself to speak to the point that some people can’t remember her being a part of the group! In one particular meeting people were praying in tongues and even though Amanda was prompted, she still couldn’t speak to the group. Later on she was asked if God had told her anything and she admitted that “God told me to speak up and that I’ve got things to say”, exactly what John had been told by God. So Amanda started to speak. Even though the sheet she reads may shake to the point of being airborne, she looks at how much she has achieved in the short space of five years with pride and almost disbelief.

Eagle’s Nest holds a very special place in Amanda’s heart. A church serves as the base in our spiritual lives and have a huge influence on us. Finding the right church is so important and Amanda believes that without Eagle’s Nest, her family would not have become Christians. Amanda’s stereotypes were all discredited with the loud modern music and unpretentious attitudes. She describes how she loved the members’ honest approach as “We're all rubbish but we're always trying our best”. Her family were the first non-Christian family to join the church and Craig and Amanda were the first wedding John ever performed.