Sarah's story

A bad relationship and an unexpected baby...

My name is Sarah and I am my twenties. I started life in a Christian family and throughout my childhood I attended church regularly.

When I left school at 16 years old, I met a man and we became a couple. He was very possessive of me and didn’t like me going to church so I became less regular at church until I stopped going.

I suffered verbal abuse from him for nearly four years, which made me feel very low and insecure. I kept thinking ‘I didn’t deserve any better’. I reached a turning point when he was physically violent to me and I was so scared I knew I had to leave. I ran away from him that night and thankfully my brother came and took me home with him.

I found myself living back with my parents and a few months later I discovered I was pregnant. I felt so alone and I had no one to turn to for support. I was still so angry at my ex-boyfriend because even though I had left he still had a hold on me.

I started going to Shoreham Baptist Church with my parents just to get out the house. I had the baby and my life got more difficult. I battled through and took one day at a time. One Sunday I found myself really wanting to go to the evening service at church so I went. God spoke to me and told me ‘believe and be baptised’. I obeyed and I felt fantastic! I felt I had been given the strength to carry on with my life and a sense of inner peace.

In the past year I have been learning and committing my life to God more. I am understanding about where I have been and I really believe that the night I left my ex-boyfriend God was there opening the door for me and giving me the opportunity to get to know him and follow him.