00:00
So, mediumship, and tarot
card readings, and crystal
00:05
healing, and all those kind
of things were very every day.
00:08
My name's Danni, and this is my story.
00:12
I grew up in a family who
were very much entrenched
00:17
in occult beliefs and practises.
00:20
The result of that, honestly, for me, was
00:21
I grew up really quite fearful.
00:24
I hated being on my own,
00:27
Because I never felt alone.
00:30
And not in a positive way.
00:32
My Gran was a Christian,
00:35
and as a child I was desperate
00:38
to go to church with her, but
my mom wasn't overly keen.
00:42
And I went to a church
school, so I started to learn
00:46
about Jesus, and I wanted
to read Bible stories.
00:50
I used to take them home,
but I was always sent back
00:52
to school with them.
00:53
I wasn't allowed to read them.
00:55
Many years later, my husband
and I were expecting twins.
00:59
We'd been told that the
twins were going to be born,
01:02
but at 21 weeks pregnant they would die.
01:05
I did what anyone would
do, and I rang to my mum.
01:08
She was very angry, and
she said, "That proves it."
01:12
"There can't be a god."
01:14
"What kind of god does
anything like that?"
01:16
And in that moment I remember thinking,
01:18
"Okay, you could look at it that way."
01:21
Or, we could look at it
and say, well actually,
01:24
"I think there might be, and
boy do I need him right now."
01:29
And as I hung up the phone, I prayed.
01:32
"I promise that I will never ask you why."
01:35
"If I don't question why me,
why us, what have I done, "
01:39
"will you just give me the courage"
01:42
"that I need to get through this?"
01:46
And I just felt these arms just hold me,
01:52
and I knew that it was going to be okay.
01:56
I was never naive enough
to think that okay meant
01:59
that my labour was going
to stop and everything was
02:03
But I knew that we would be okay.
02:06
We've been working through
the grief of losing our twins.
02:11
We then went on to, in total,
02:14
suffer ten miscarriages.
02:17
We fell pregnant with our
daughter, and when Eden was born
02:21
I had to publicly give
thanks for this little girl.
02:26
And acknowledge God's
part, and his hand in it.
02:28
And we put together a
thanksgiving service.
02:33
And I started to read
my Bible more and more.
02:37
And after having Eden
dedicated, I realised
02:41
that I needed to be baptised.
02:44
So, since coming to know Jesus,
02:46
life hasn't been easy.
02:50
I never expect God to lift
02:53
me out of my circumstances.
02:56
Jesus is a rock that I stand on.
02:59
And sometimes I don't stand,
03:02
I cling on for dear life.
03:05
But I've never ever been alone.
03:08
When I contacted this
church, they had no idea
03:12
of the baggage that I lugged behind me,
03:18
But what they did do was welcome me
03:24
and embrace me, and as I
03:28
began to unpack all that
03:30
baggage, I saw the love of Jesus,
03:33
in them, through them
03:35
and when you can look
into the face of Jesus,
03:40
and know that you have
been made new in him,
03:45
yeah, that's a feeling like no other.
03:50
And there is no new age practice
04:00
or anything, like Jesus.
