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"In 1975 my father decided to move back to Co. Clare. He wanted to spend some time with his mother. It was an extremely difficult transition..."
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My name is Margaret Angland. I was born in England in the greater London area. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. My father is from Co. Clare, so we used to come to Clare for our summer holidays. I was raised in a Roman Catholic home. My mother taught us to knell by our bedsides every night and say our prayers. I always believed that God existed. As a young teenager my mother started sending my sister and myself to the “youth masses”. After a while we stopped going. We used to go to the park instead and talk about the meaning of life and why we were here and what was the meaning of life. We had no answers.
In 1975 my father decided to move back to Co. Clare. He wanted to spend some time with his mother. It was an extremely difficult transition. I had just celebrated my 18th birthday. I left my job, my friends, my brothers, our family home and all that was familiar to me.
Six weeks after arriving in Clare my grandmother collapsed suddenly and died. Her death was a huge blow to my father. Shortly after her death my sister and I left home. We moved into a one room flat in Ennis. We felt so lonely and depressed and tried to fill our lives with what the world had to offer, but this left such emptiness in my heart.
One day a girl I worked with took me for coffee and started talking about how Jesus had changed her life. My thirsty soul lapped up her words. She invited me to a Bible study. I knew nothing of the Bible and had never owned one. I went to the study and although I found it all so different, I was drawn to the joy and peace I saw in the people there. This joy and peace was missing from my life.
My friend arranged for my sister and myself to talk to a couple of Christians so we could ask all the questions that we had been asking ourselves for years, but never finding answers. One of the Christians was Tim O’Neill. He and a friend patiently answered all our questions – using the Bible to give us the answers. I was amazed at what the Bible had to say. Over the weeks I came to realise that there was a Heaven and a Hell, and that everybody would stand before the judgement seat of Christ when they died to be judged. I believed in my heart that if I died and stood before the Holy God of Heaven I would not be good enough to be allowed in . I also believed that I wasn’t “bad” enough to go to Hell. I felt I was fairly good although not perfect. I justified the things I said, did and thought. So I believed that I’d go to Purgatory for a while and suffer there for my sins and be purified, then I’d be pure enough to enter Heaven.
By being shown passages in the Bible I came to the realisation that there was no Purgatory only a Heaven and a Hell. I was heading for one or the other. But I knew I couldn’t enter into a Holy Heaven in my unfit state. That left the sickening reality that if I died that night I’d go to Hell. The reality terrified me.
But I was shown the Good News of the gospel that Jesus suffered and went to the cross bearing the sin of the world. Jesus had taken my punishment that I deserved for my sin. If I accepted that I could not ever be “good enough” to get to Heaven by my own good works, and repent of my sin and ask Jesus to forgive me and be my Saviour, I would be forgiven and be born again. Then I could go to Heaven because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and because of His great mercy in forgiving me. Only through Jesus could I go to Heaven.
That night when I was alone I cried out to the Lord Jesus to forgive me of my sin. I asked Him to please forgive me and be my Saviour. I thanked Him for taking my punishment on the cross. Jesus answered my prayer. He filled me with a great peace and joy and a love and desire to know Him more.
That was over 27 years ago and I am so thankful that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for my sin and that He forgave me of my sins when I called out o Him. He can do the same for you. This life is so short – the next life is for eternity. One day you will stand before a Holy God to give account of all the things you have done in this life. Don’t put off repenting and calling on the Lord Jesus to save you. Don’t leave it until it is too late.
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Ordinary people in Ireland with Real life Experiences with God
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