‘God is sitting right beside you’

Christine Scales (Balham) shares how the Lord is working in her life today.

About 30 years ago I decided to go to a keep-fit class. There I met this lady and I could not stand her! She just kept on chatting! One day we were having a cup of tea together and she started talking about The Salvation Army. It had never happened before, but that conversation smacked me right in the face! At the time I was a Catholic, but I wanted to learn more about being a Salvationist.

One night later there was a ring at the door. It was a man from the Army. I asked him to come in and we talked about the Army. He invited me to the local corps for lunch. I went several times for lunch and one day I was asked to attend a church meeting. But I couldn’t as I was a Catholic. I lay awake at night thinking about it.

I then decided to become a Salvation Army soldier and it was the best thing I have ever done. I feel so proud when I put my uniform on and I know that Jesus is with me. The advice I would give to young people in The Salvation Army today is to go to Sunday school and to listen to their teachers.

I feel God’s presence every day and it is wonderful. He is working in my life today: when I have a difficulty I sit down, close my eyes and speak to Jesus in prayer and ask for his help.

My relationship with God has changed over my life for the better. When I was Catholic, I would light a candle in church, thinking, ‘Why do I bother? Who listens and who cares?’ Now, because of what I have experienced at The Salvation Army, I know that God is with me all the time. I thank God every day for my life.

When I was a child, I was in a car accident and my skull was fractured. God could have taken me just like that, but he didn’t. I have often wondered, ‘Why, why, why?’ I don’t know why I survived, and no one else knows either. But God knows. I think the reason he allowed me to live is so that I could help other people.

I talk to people about their problems and pray with them when they are in need. They will sometimes ask me, ‘Christine, is God really there?’ I always reply: ‘You can’t see him darling, but he is sitting right beside you.’