Testimony - Revd Andrew Nelmes
"I thought I discovered God, but the truth is—He found me first…
Faith is alive and real, even in difficult times—God walks with us. When God called me, I simply knew.
God has a purpose for each of us. We are His ‘living stones’—unique, imperfect, yet chosen. It is His work within us that allows us to follow His will."
I thought I discovered God, the fact was, God came and met me.
I came back to church in my late teens, having been baptised as a child. After a long journey, I ended back in the Church in Wales. The God, who knew me as a child, brought me into a relationship with himself. Sounds a little strange, but, to experience what we believe is life changing.
As I grew in my knowledge of God, through the Bible and an experience that God had ‘called me’, this has kept me to the present, this experience was in 1997. I started distance learning while working, obtaining a theology degree and finishing a Masters degree before being ordained in 2021. The unfolding of God’s will is for us all. I believe it makes our faith alive and real, in spite of difficult times; God is with us through it all.
Those who heard the Samaritan woman’s story, initially believed what she said about Jesus, but when her friends met him, they believed in Jesus for themselves. We can only tell what we know and experience. When God called me, I just knew, it was innate. Over three weeks, the word ‘called’ became so real! When in a prayer meeting, the minister said to me, that God had called me. I replied ‘yes I know, I was going to tell you’.
The fact remains God has a purpose for us all. We are all ‘living stones’, different and unique. The altar stones in the Old Testament were to be dug out of the ground and used. If chiselled by other humans, they would not be fit for use. God takes us and uses us in spite of our weaknesses. We can only be who and what we are, sometimes we can try too hard. To paraphrase St Paul, it is God who is at work in us, so we can choose and do his will.