Extract from ‘Shirley Anne – My life story’

Throughout my life, that is up and until my forty-fourth birthday, I had been a confirmed atheist. I have always been interested in Astronomy, studying the heavens and reading about the Universe but it was this fact that became a stumbling block to any belief in a deity. Of course, I was viewing things from a purely human standpoint which is all that I could do, or so I thought. I was taken by surprise and yet on reflection I believe now that I had been guided and pointed in the right direction, ‘right’ in the context of a belief in God and Jesus Christ. Many people will probably have unread copies of the Holy Bible in one form or another on their bookshelves. I was one. In fact the copy I had really belonged to my former wife who had been presented with it many years before at her ‘confirmation’ in the Church of England. Since I have known her she has always shown a disinterest in anything to do with church life. After the birth of our two sons I began to attend church and I persuaded her to join me, which she did but I suppose it was more of a supporting thing for the children. When, some years later, after I had become a Christian and began to attend a Pentecostal church she lost all interest. At this moment in time I have no idea of her current attitude to her faith or even if she has any but I pray constantly for her.
Getting back to the Bible. One summer’s day in 1988 when the children were still quite young, we planned a week’s holiday travelling through Scotland in our little caravanette. I decided to take along some reading material for the evenings and one of the books I took was that Bible. I had begun to read it some weeks earlier and had found it very interesting. There was little else my wife and I could do in the evenings when the children were put to bed so reading something was ideal. Over the next few months I read the entire book from cover to cover. This brought me to a point where I was challenged over my beliefs and early the following year I became a born again Christian. ‘Born Again’ simply means becoming aware and starting anew. This happened suddenly on 6th Feb 1989.
I had been studying the Bible since June the previous year and thought I knew all the answers. I didn’t. One particular evening on my way home from work I drove by our old house, the one we left in August 1988 and visited our old next door neighbour. Unbeknown to me she had become a Christian too and when I started talking about my faith she was a little perturbed. Evidently my doctrine was not quite right. She invited me to visit the Pastor of her church and discuss these things with him. I made the appointment some days later which was 3rd Feb 1989. We chatted and discussed the Christian faith and he pointed out a few things to me from the Bible. He then said I was to go away and think on these things and my whole belief. On the morning of the 6th, three days later I arose and had a personal experience with God. There is no other way to describe the feelings except that I felt an overwhelming love come over me and an understanding given me at that moment. I had become born again. In March that same year I was baptised, full immersion baptism. This baptism symbolises the fact that the old me had gone and the new me had come, spiritually speaking of course. At the Baptism itself I gave my testimony and I had written a poem about how I’d become a Christian. It was based on a particular Scripture 2 Cor 5:17 which actually describes this new beginning. Now the custom at these baptisms was for the pastor to present each candidate with a Bible verse. This was done prayerfully so that each candidate would receive a verse reflecting his or her transition to the faith. Now the Pastor had no idea that I had written a poem nor what it was about and especially not the verse I’d based it on. I told nobody about my poem prior to my baptism. The presentation verse I received from him was 2 Cor 5:17. Coincidence? I think not because the lady who had introduced me to the church also had a surprise for me. She had bought a card by way of congratulations and inside was printed the same verse! 2 Cor 5:17. (2 Corinthians, chapter 5 verse 17). She had no idea either. Now if that isn’t a confirmation, I don’t know what is.
When I can find where I have placed that poem I will include it here later.

My life as a Christian had begun and it is fair to say that it changed my life dramatically.
I mention these things only because I was confronted in later years with a dilemma when I began to dress ‘en femme’ and go out socially as such. My cross dressing and desire to transition were in conflict with my faith and I suffered anguish trying to reconcile and justify my actions. It was the same when my wife and I divorced a few years later in 2004. It took many months, even years before I became relaxed with my decision to transition. Around the same time that I came out to the world I left the church. I had felt unloved there for quite some time and left out of things by my peers. There was also the Church’s attitude to the young people there of which my children were members but that is another story. The point I make is the feeling I had of being unloved there after ten years as a member. So I found myself again being challenged regarding my beliefs. It was a very difficult time for me but I thank God that He helped me through it all and now I have peace of mind. I know there is a God because He has revealed Himself to me in more ways than one, not least of all through my Saviour, Jesus.
Shirley Anne

Something Extra…………..

Many people believe in things they know nothing about. They have their ‘faiths’. They will put their trust in something they know little about or they will ‘romanticise’ their belief in the belief that something good will benefit them in some way. Usually it is a belief that will make them ‘feel’ better about themselves and be the reason they exist.
How many of you have stood at a bus stop or on a railway platform expecting a bus or a train will come by for you? A timetable doesn’t necessarily mean that one is coming but
we place our faith in it happening. Usually it does. How many of you will place their faith in somebody they know little of? That would be foolish would it not? No, we check them out first, then we place our faith in them with some confidence.
I receive a magazine, free of charge, every three months. This magazine is replete with things that most people would not believe. Why? Probably because they feel they would need to see for themselves before they believed. Fair enough but why will they still place their faith in other things they cannot see? That is probably due to experience in their lives, if they’ve stood waiting for a bus or train and have never been let down then that is good enough to have faith in the system. Systems break down though don’t they? What about placing your faith in something that will never let you down? Where? I hear you say.
The magazine I receive is an evangelical, prophetical publication of which most people have never heard or most probably don’t even want to. Nevertheless it exists and inside it describes many incidents of people being instantly cured of ailments, disabilities and even terminal illnesses! Miracles. Miracles do happen even today but they are not front page news. Now why is that? Maybe because people won’t believe in them. No man can perform a miracle because by definition miracles are events that cannot be explained by the normal laws of physics. They happen because God performs them through Jesus Christ. Even Jesus said, ‘If you don’t believe in me then at least believe in the miracles’. He was showing the people that God exists because miracles can’t happen any other way.
The miracles reported in this magazine are happening as a result of the preaching of the Gospel (good news) in diverse places such as many of the former USSR countries and eastern Europe. Hundreds of people get healed at meetings and thousands become Christians. Many examples have been reported on how authorities naturally hostile to the Gospel have bent backwards to allow it to be preached. Only God can do that. One such meeting in a town’s central square was totally against the law but it happened. It had been snowing prior to the meeting but for the day of the meeting there was no snow and thousands filled the square and gave their lives to Christ. The following day the snow returned. There have been instances where torrential rain was falling but nowhere inside the stadium did it rain. That’s a miracle. God performs miracles when you put your faith in Him.
No, I am not ashamed to be a Christian. I am not ashamed of Jesus. My faith is in something I know to be true. Where is yours?

1 Corinthians 1v18,19 (NIV)
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

And remember John 3v16………
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
And John 3v17………
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.