How I Realised the Importance of Prayer

I was born in Bacup in 1932 and my mother, being a staunch Methodist, taught me to pray from a very early age before getting into bed each evening so as a child I never had any doubts as to the existence of God. She also sent me to Sunday school each week and I really liked it. There was no mention of the importance of having one’s sins forgiven, however, although I learned a lot of Scripture for which I am now very thankful.

I did, become, however, very interested in Jesus when I was 7 or 8 years old and at one stage really would have loved to have been with the children in Jerusalem at his triumphal entry there but sadly, none of the teachers were very interested in the wishes of individual children, so although I tried, I didn’t get much encouragement and soon gave up trying, When I moved up into another class the teacher there began to read to us the life story of Wilfrid Thomasson Grenfell who was a Doctor and keen to get the Christian message to the inhabitants of Labrador, which is the most northerly point of the American continent. He encountered great opposition though from his friends and authorities alike but in spite of this he gave up everything in this country and went.

It was like a serial story to me and to this day believe it was through this man’s influence that I kept on going to Church even through the difficult teenage years. The teacher read a chapter each week and I eagerly awaited the next installment. I don’t know what happened to him in the end but I believe there is now a Grenfell Society in Nova Scotia. What he did for me was to keep me going to Church during my formative years and that was to prove crucial in my life.

I was about 12 years old when I first heard about Wilfred Grenfell and about this time I again became very interested in Jesus and His agonizing death at Calvary to save me from the weight of my sin so I finally decided I wanted to be one of His followers and told Him so as best I knew how at that time, and decided to keep on going to Church on Sunday evenings. I had got so used to going each Sunday afternoon that I wanted to be there in the evening also and realize now that it was the Holy Spirit calling.