How I found love on the internet.

In 2003 my husband and I had friends staying. The 2 men had known each other since they were 7 and we wives had got to know each other over the years.

I knew she attended an evangelical church so I searched on the internet for any in our area as she had expressed a desire to attend church as it was Easter.

As I thought it bad manners to abandon a visitor somewhere she did not know how to get home from I decided to stay for the service.

Now I had been brought up and confirmed in the Church of England, all schools at that time taught Christian values and held overtly Christian assemblies and the population of the UK were considered to be Christians unless they specifically stated otherwise. I had left the church in my rebellious teenage years but still visited church buildings for weddings, funerals and Christenings or sight seeing excursions. So the story of the crucifixion was not new to me but for the first time ever the truth of it sank into my heart and head in such a profound way that I found myself emotionally moved to tears at the same time as experiencing such a feeling of joy that I could not stop smiling.

15 months later I was baptized with all my family and friends watching. One week after that my husband died suddenly and unexpectedly. My brother asked if his death had shaken my faith but how could it. The Bible does not promise life without trials but support through them. Since the day I gave my life to Jesus he has taken me on an amazing adventure. I have been places and met people I never dreamed existed and I find love and joy everywhere, even on the dark days.

And that is how I found love on the internet. God’s deep and wide and everlasting and immense love a love that could enfold a cynical sinner like me in arms full of forgiveness and grace. I went from a disappointed, disillusioned robot steadily ticking off the days between cradle and grave to an enthusiastic, adventurous lover of the world. I still live in the same house I still go out to work. My financial circumstances did not magically change, in fact my income has dropped dramatically.

The change has been from within. I look at life differently; I see situations and people with new eyes. I was blind but now I see.