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Stories from Stepping Up: Jill Richmond

Date:
Wed 21st July 2021
Jill shares her story of God calling her through the ups and downs of life.

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Jill's Story

Hi my name is Jill, I live in Redcar and have one daughter and two granddaughters.

Though not coming from a Church-going family I believed in God, probably due to school assemblies and nativity plays. When I was 30, I felt a powerful pull towards St Hilda's Church in Redcar.  I talked to a friend and we decided to go together along with our children. It took some courage as neither of us knew what to do or expect.

Over the course a number of months my friend stopped coming with me to church and in November 1983 my sister died followed by the sudden death of my Mam 6 weeks later.  Although I was devastated I felt God was beside me, helping me through this terrible experience.   By this time I had made the decision to be confirmed and this happened the following Palm Sunday.  

The whole family, my daughter and husband became involved with Church activities. My husband Dennis and I took turns on the PPC, helped with Church office, shop and many other things until Dennis became ill and we were not able to continue. 

Sadly Dennis died 3 years ago after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. After Den's death I became an active part of the church again, re-joining the PCC, however I felt it was not enough.  

Once more I was drawn to find out what God wanted from me. I began to pray asking, "God, what do you want me to do with my life, please show me the way". Then out of the blue, Matt our vicar called to tell me about Mustard Seed and asked if I would like to meet Jonny one of the team from Mustard Seed.  Normally I would have been nervous about this, feeling it was out of my comfort zone, but I felt a real sense of calm and agreed.  

I am not academically smart but have enjoyed Alpha and Lent courses and really felt that this was in answer to my prayer.  I am enjoying our meetings and look forward to going each week.  Jonny and my group are helping me to grow in confidence, I have even led the prayers something new to me.  I am learning and improving skills such as my listening skills, which with continued support from our team will hopefully enable me to help members of our community.  I would encourage anyone to join a Mustard seed group.

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