Part 1 - A bit of Background… on me!
Love is what makes the world go round. Isn’t it?
This is my testimony, some of it you will relate to, and others you won’t. However, in the words of my Father, who is unfortunately no longer with us “Tough shit”…
Well it started when I was a child. I had trauma going to bed, like many children I wanted to sleep with my parents. My Dad often allowed this as I felt I saw Jesus, you know? a shadow of a man with long hair and shoulder that was covered by a cloak. My parents who ‘believed’ in their own way, but I wasn’t brought up as a Christian, as often my Dad would invite people from church into the house and ‘ask’ those difficult questions. E.g. why is there murder, rape, paedophiles and all that sort of thing… So slowly I was thinking in the lines of which my Father believed., basically I wasn’t my own person…For example, I whistled the sound the others were playing… if you get my drift?
My Dad then went to drink and was verbally and physically abusive. One occasion when I was 15 years old, after an argument about the word ‘hypocrite’ when he was intoxicated with a couple litres of vodka inside him. I recall, he threw me across the room and started to punch the top of my head. My mum stopped him, saying: “don’t you dare hit our children!” I came from an unhappy childhood home, so I left at 20 years of age to start my adult journey. My Dad was still drinking and every Saturday I would stay over the family house, as I felt they were my support network. I couldn’t be more further away from the truth. I was a nervous wreck, told many lies to people, pretending to be something that I wasn’t. I was pretty fucked up. Family members would also get involved, saying to my Mum to leave my Dad because of the mayhem he would cause. She didn’t, however, one day in 1997. My Mother put divorce papers down in front of Dad, she aid she signed her part of the document in her pledge for the both to go their own separate ways. The day after my Dad started to go to AA meetings and other mental health services to get his addiction under control, and by the grace of God he did. The AA system never really helped my Father.. Talking therapies really wasn’t for him, he was more of a thinker type of person, and even when you did have a discussion with him his attention would stop on the 30th minute!
My story is complex, as I need to refer to my often tired memory bank to recall what happened. Despite my age, which is still very young I feel I have a fairly good memory. I recalled the time I heard on the Radio in 1977 that Elvis Priestley passed away. I remembered, as a 4 year old boy in our flat, in Noel Terrace, Forest Hill in South East London, asking Mum what was wrong, and she said Elvis died. My mum loves Elvis.
Anyway, I am starting to side track. I can confidently say that my childhood, along with my young adulthood life that this period wasn’t the best. To be fair, there were kind friends who provided support, as well as family members (who I know are pretty fucked up mentally). You see we are from descendants of parents who came from Cyprus to England. My Dad came to England in 1945 after the 2nd world war, and my Mother came twice, once in 1962 and finally in 1966, she finally got U.K. nationalisation citizenship in 1971.
My relationship with my parents hasn’t been great. During my Dad’s drinking days, which almost destroyed every ounce of confidence, but we formed a better relationship later in life, when I tried to take my life in 2009 with a failed overdose fast insulin attempt (140 units of fast insulin). He in essence saved my life when he accidentally read my suicide note when he dropped something in my bedroom. This came about when I said something stupid at work and almost lost my job with the NHS.. I still miss that old git now….. I don’t think I ever stop missing him. Now I know God used him to save me… Crazy! but so clearly true.
As for my Mum, I don’t get on with her. She is fiery and very impatient, she (like I) has said all the wrong things during our altercations. She riles my spirit so many years ago I made a conscious decision to stop communicating with her; I did this even in her own home, this then proved difficult when Dad passed away on the 17th May 2023 at 00:03 hours, after only finding out 5 weeks before that he has colon cancer. I was there when he passed away and had to call family members to say he passed away. In June or July 2023 I left the family home, God said to leave…. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.
Part 2 - When it all made sense….
Again I go off track as my revelation for Christ finding me came in 2015. Every on paper was going well, apart from a few episodes of hypoglycaemia attacks (I have type 1 diabetes) and depression, A member of my family was getting on my nerves, they were being rude and quite challenging.
So this is how the journey with Christ began. It was a warm Saturday morning and this guy ‘Peter’ came through the gym entrance saying: ‘Believe in Jesus, believe in Jesus’. So I thought to myself, ‘who is this nut case.’ Anyway, I digress, each gym session when the aim was to vent of the frustrations of every day life, I then started to confide in this gentleman. You could tell he had a broken past, his ear was clearly severed from what I presume is an attack or birth defect? But he came across as a religious and humble chap.
Peter use to pray to and for me, and when we met I would say to him that I would be praying, but to be truly honest I never felt the prayers worked; that amazing rapture, which I later experienced on how God is so real in this day and age, the forever omnipresent father in heaven.
One day, I recall it was a Saturday morning, we all finished the gym and would go off for breakfast or a coffee at the Wetherspoons. I said to Peter that a member of my family is seriously pissing me off and if they kept it up it would turn ‘messy’. For those who are pacifists, I would knock the crap of them, and continue hitting them. Peter stopped our walk and said in front of a few other friends that could he pray for me? So I said yes, Peter put his hand on the side of my body and started praying. I thought this pray would be only for a few minutes, little did I know! He prayed for 15-20 minutes, rebuking the devil and that God would need to prove himself to me.., after the pray I felt a ‘swoosh’, that something went inside my ribs. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew something quite extraordinary took place.
I recall that took place in May 2015 and for a month or 2, I went out on a Sunday for these walks, which would end up for me going to a pub for a couple of pints before I proceeded to go home, but these tears would come out of my eyes. They weren’t sad tears they were tears that healed me for the better. People who haven’t given their life to God won’t understand this, yes, they have heard the stories and I won’t they dismiss what they have heard, but they haven’t given their heart to God. So they don’t have first hand experience surrendering to an almighty Jesus, who I know is REAL.
The defining moment was one Sunday my friend Peter asked me to go to this Pentecostal church in South East London called Kings Church, located in Catford. Back then the church had a 5:30pm service; sso when the service commenced we started to sing this song, I think it was ‘10000 reasons’ written by Matt Redman? It was from that moment I felt the relentless surge of tears pouring down my face, I couldn’t control it, and all I heard (apart from the singing) was Peter’s voice, saying: “You are doing well J, let it all out son, let it all out.”
The next day was another day at work, I felt an amazing change in my body. I started to speak to Peter who to be fair overwhelmed me with plenty of texts which contained many scripture passages, which I wasn’t able to process. I now know he wanted me to grow closer to God. Sometimes, I fall short (like us all) I have suffered a few depression episodes and another failed suicide attempt, but these weren’t caused by God, this was done by my own ‘human free will’, a will which I thought I knew better.
I will end with this, so with little deliberation I publicly declared my belief in Christ in the 31st January 2015 at the 5:30pm service at Kings Church Catford by getting baptised, feeling was quite overwhelming and such a blessing.
The journey has been joyful and at the same time painful, but would I have it any other way..? no! I have changed as a person, the road has been rocky especially when my Dad passed away, but this is my testimony, there is more I could have shared but I am feeling quite emotional putting this down, so perhaps another time I would tell other parts of my testimony!
As I write this, I hear a dear friend of mine, who I won’t publicly name (and he is my age) and he is shouting downstairs ‘it’s unfair’ shouting like a child.. All I know is that he needs Jesus to set him free. As for me? I may not have sussed out life and I know I could have done better in other aspects of my life, but nevertheless, this is my life and it grow in faith. Anyway, we are all ‘works in progress’.
Peter passed away on the 24th November 2018, aged 49 through an unexpected heart attack… I still miss him to this day.. a brother’s prayer that saved my life, and many more that he connected with.
God bless.. I hope whoever reads this allows the spirit to let him in!!! Jesus, God or the 3 in 1 is the best journey I have ever encouraged by 10000000%. God has proved in both mine and other peoples lives…. And it all starts with a prayer. Amen 🙏🏽
I hope you enjoyed this testimony…
Jason
1st March 2026
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