Hi, my name is Thomas and I am a young adult in the church. I have Cerebral Palsy which has resulted in severe disabilities that impact my day to day living.
My mum and extended family on both sides are all active members and ministers, so I have never known a time when church hasn’t been part of my life in some way. Being involved in church and having a faith though are two very different things for me. Only mum attends and dad doesn’t, so I certainly had the option not to bother with church. For quite a long time growing up I simply attended because members of my family did. I always enjoyed the activities for children and the different opportunities to make things and mix with others at Sunday School and later at Messy Church sessions.
My faith journey though really didn’t begin until 2017 when I decided to have an operation to have a Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) fitted. This involves major brain surgery inserting two electrodes through my skull and into the damaged Basal Ganglia part of my brain. This is the part of the brain that primarily controls your motor movements, initiation, planning and execution. The DBS is like a pacemaker but for stimulating the brain nerves. This was designed to assist people with Parkinson’s Disease but can help some people with conditions like mine. It was very much a trial to see if it helps but with significant invasive requirements and risks. Whether or not to take that risk was very much a question of faith and trust and it was due to this that I thought more about my own faith in terms of church and the help and support I might need if I decided to go ahead. So, in faith, my journey began. The decision to go ahead was made on hope; the hope that even in some small way the surgery and device might help my condition and quality of life. In looking back, I now realise that God was supporting me and my family in making that decision.
Before the surgery took place, I felt that my faith was really starting to grow as I asked for help and support on the new, unknown journey ahead. I had my first administration (a prayer of blessing for health issues) which was such a positive and supportive experience, giving me reassurance that everything would be fine. This was the first major decision I made in my life when I asked for God’s help and guidance. I also know that the prayers and support of my church family really helped. I am so grateful for the caring support of a prayer clock, set up on my behalf with prayers spoken every hour to help me. This had such a positive impact as I knew that I wasn’t alone and all my family, my friends and my God were with me and supporting me through the most challenging of times and decisions.
I have never forgotten these experiences and the start of my faith journey, having God and not just the church in my life. Since then, I have had so many other experiences with God and have been baptised to be a follower of God through his son Jesus Christ.