Be encouraged by this personal story.
A personal story from a church member
A Message to My Beloved Family and Friends
*The Pain*
On Saturday morning, 13th June, I developed what I thought was just a bad, persistent case of indigestion and acid reflux. Over the weekend, I tried typical remedies like gripe water (for infants but useful for adults) and Gaviscon, assuming it was just a stubborn bout of heartburn that needed time to settle.
By Monday evening 15th, however, the burning pain became unrelenting and I began throwing up. Realising I couldn’t manage it at home, my wife called NHS 111 for advice. Given the severity of the symptoms, they immediately upgraded the call and dispatched an ambulance. I honestly thought a blue-light ambulance was a bit extreme for a severe case of heartburn, but within minutes, the paramedics arrived in our living room to examine me.
*The Professionals*
The paramedics, Mo and Tony, were absolutely terrific. Mo (Mohammad) was the younger, very talkative one, while Tony was the senior paramedic who sat down in our armchair. Both questioned me closely about everything that had happened so far. All the while, Mo was busy connecting me to his portable ECG machine. After a moment, Mo looked at Tony and said something in a medical code that I didn’t understand. Tony re-confirmed the reading with Mo, then looked directly at me. In a quiet, gentle voice, he said, “I don’t want you to panic, but you’re having a heart attack.”
*The Procedure and the Provision*
What a difference blue lights and a siren make. Arriving at St Barts hospital in about twenty minutes, with my wife also in the ambulance, I was swiftly attended to by a team of five or six people all asking the same critical questions, with further quick ultrasound. The main surgeon came round, looked at the latest ECG report that had just printed out, and said they needed to perform an immediate angioplasty—inserting a wire with a camera through a vein to check the condition of my heart and arteries. Everything was moving at lightning speed; there was no time to think. As I gave my consent, with my wife watching and waiting, I scribbled my name on the iPad, though it hardly resembled my actual signature. Multiple people were attending to me at once, shaving me and prepping me for surgery. We had arrived at 22:38 and at around 23:15, I was wheeled into the operating theatre—about 35 minutes after arriving at the hospital.
After about another 30 minutes approximately in surgery (I was awake throughout), I was told that two stents had been successfully inserted into my arteries. One main artery was 100% blocked, and an offshoot artery was 75% blocked.
Following the procedure, I was discharged in just 36 hours, on the Wednesday afternoon, 17th June. It was only then that I was able to fully process what had happened and learn about the medical tools used to save my life (along with prayers answered). I found out that the stents used are considered the absolute gold standard—the top-quality, premium type, costing around £6,000 per stent. It reminded me of what Mo told me in the ambulance on the way to the hospital: “All these years you pay your taxes, and this is when you get it back.”
*The Promise*
More than anything, I want to give thanks to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Life is incredibly short, and our time on earth is not something we can predict. One day you are here, and the next you can be gone.
Throughout the entire ordeal, I know my anxiety was kept completely in check because of my ultimate trust in Jesus. Everyone is different, but I want to ask you: do you have the absolute assurance that when you leave this earth, you will be in paradise?
Jesus said: ”I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
We have so many direct promises from our Lord Jesus, the King of Kings, the Faithful One:
”In my Father’s house are many rooms… I am going there to prepare a place for you; And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)
I truly believe this experience has stoked a fire in me, a deeper appetite to reach out to my family, relatives, and friends. I want to tell you this good news, this wonderful promise that we are guaranteed a place—a royal inheritance—in the kingdom of God, simply by accepting Jesus as Saviour.
As the Bible tells us in Romans: ”If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
*I consider all of you as my family*, and I ask you to look at the beautiful logic of the Gospel and why we should follow Jesus. Paul’s letter to the Romans sets up this “guarantee” through a few clear steps:
*The Problem* : First, Paul establishes that everyone needs saving because no one can be perfect on their own.
Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
*The Gift* : He then explains that eternal life cannot be earned by our good deeds or perfect obedience; it is an entirely free gift.
Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
*The Acceptance* : Finally, he shows that accepting this gift simply requires internal belief and external confession (as shown in Romans 10 above).
This is the real deal. It is not a counterfeit scheme, a scam, or just man-made philosophy.
And it is absolutely not a case of “all roads lead to the same place.” A friend recently told me, “Look, all religious beliefs say the same thing. When you believe in God, all paths lead to the same destination.”
With love, I have to tell you: that is wrong.
There is an evil one. Because of his hatred towards God and his prideful desire for worship, this powerful being wants to divert your eyes away from the truth. He wants to tilt your gaze just enough so that you do not acknowledge Jesus as God. The enemy is content if people say Jesus was just a “holy man,” a “manifestation,” or a “prophet”—because that subtle shift is enough to take you out of the territory of safety. The devil will lure people with whatever works: pride & ambition, money, sex, power, anxiety, addiction, or complacency.
The devil works by:
*Distorting God’s Character:* Whispering that God is too restrictive, unkind, or withholding something good from you (just as he did in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve).
*Counterfeit Truths:* Promoting cultural trends or philosophies that seem harmless or enlightened but ultimately lead away from biblical truth. As 2 Corinthians 11:14 notes, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
My beloved ones, all world religions are fundamentally different! I cannot emphasise this enough. One teaches reincarnation through various cycles as humans, animals, or insects. Another says there is no God, that it is just you and your desires, so you must eliminate desire to be good. Another recognizes that we have only one life, and after that, we are either with God or we are not—with no second chances.
But as a follower of Jesus, you are not trapped in a ritualistic arrangement, and you are not a slave. You are a child of God in a living relationship with Him. There is no nonsense about “progressive revelations” or new teachers arriving as the world matures. If you look at history, the root cause of the human problem has always been exactly the same.
We don’t need a new teacher. We only need the one truth; And this is what Jesus said Himself: “I am the way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me”. We only need Jesus, the Guru of gurus. The Gospel truth is entirely enough.
Family, my deepest desire is that you take advantage of my situation to reflect on this. If any of you want to talk about this or need answers, please let me know. I will do my absolute best to help you find them.
Jesus cleansed me of my wrongdoings. He knows every single one of my filthy rags, and nothing is hidden from Him. Yet He took all of them upon Himself on the cross. He paid the price! He gave me a completely clean slate, and then He covered me with His cloak of righteousness so that I can stand in front of God the Father—not in guilt, but in absolute joy and exuberance. He will do the same for you, if you allow Him.
To my fellow believers: what a joy it is to share this unshakeable hope with you. Thank you for your prayers, your fellowship, and for standing with me in the faith.
Lord, thank You so much. To You alone be the glory forever and ever. Amen.