(The testimonies of Mike Browne and Gaynor
Reeders)
Mike:
4 years ago I lost my wife of 37 years to
lung cancer, it left me very angry with God and with a huge empty space in my life; I had a lot of questions to ask. Based on a promise to my wife, I did my 1st Alpha at the beginning of 2009 and met some wonderful people who are good friends today. With each Alpha Course that I have subsequently done, my love for God has grown and I have become more at peace with friends and family around me, I gave my life to God on the 2nd Alpha that I did at TO strand.
I have done six Alpha Courses to date, four as a table host and with every Alpha Course that I have done, I have met more wonderful people. The last one that I did was in March and one of my guests was a lady by the name of Gaynor whom I soon discovered to be a wonderful, caring, attractive person. I am very pleased to say that 7 months down the line Gaynor has accepted my proposal and agreed to be my wife, filling that huge empty space in my life and making me very happy. I have no doubt that God, through Alpha, has brought us together.
Gaynor:
I have a little to say
about how Alpha changed my life – after a lot of searching for a place to worship, I found coming
to St Agnes was like coming home. I went to the 7am service which was such a
comfort and had been going for about six months when Andrew Geils promoted the new Alpha Course. The
invitation was open to anyone who would like to go and there would be food and
wine and friends to be made. I thought "why not", if I did not like the
presentation I would at least have dinner and somebody to chat to. When I walked in I met
my old friend Dale Tomlinson and found Sandy Hutton was so welcoming, and I felt that this would not
be so bad. However when I was put
at Mike Browne’s table I was a little disappointed as I knew that now I would have to share
my story with people that I had never met before. I had hoped to be with
Dale as he knew my story. The weekend away was my
turning point – Jill Brown and
Rose will never know just how their prayers opened my very closed heart. I know now that it was God speaking to
me and forgiving me in a way that I had never forgiven myself – telling me that I was
loveable.
Once I was able to
believe that God did love me and that I was loveable – I was able to see that Mike
was right there, also ready to love and be loved. After the Alpha Course, Mike asked me to join
his home group and I said I would give it a try, but it has been so lovely in my growth with Jesus that I don’t like to
miss a week. My darling Mike is such a gift from God that I know we will be very happy in God’s arms
forever. So thank you to all
the wonderful folk who run Alpha and give of their time just to change some
very broken folk into loving, happy and open Christians.