I am a white Male born in Oxfordshire UK in 1945 and due to my father’s work, I grew up in a constantly changing environment on farms in Oxfordshire and Devon. Then, in 1956 we moved into an old farmhouse a few miles from Chipping Norton. I lived there for thirty years, the last sixteen years were spent in a farmhouse that I purchased and modernized in the same village, before my marriage to my first wife in 1970.

In 1979 my wife and I became interested in the local Morman church and attended it on a regular basis. I found their beliefs hard to accept but found their friendship a welcome addition to our social life.

I had begun work in 1960 as a carpenter apprentice and worked until 1964 when I had a serious road accident that led to me being unconscious for three weeks and injuries that broke my jaw, cheekbone, collar bone and damaged the nerves at the top of my spine. My life changed dramatically from then as my right arm and right shoulder, muscles were not working. During the period of coming to terms with my disability I began to smoke cigarettes.

That was January 1965 that my cigarette smoking began, and I smoked up until Jan 1981 and throughout the 17 years I kept trying to give up smoking but to no avail. However, I came home from work in January 1981 and decided that I would stop smoking again, so, the packet of cigarettes was put up on the shelf with lighter just in case I needed them. There was no one else at home and as I stood in the kitchen, I was made aware of a voice from deep inside me, this male voice said, “You have stopped smoking” Now, I was astounded at the clarity of this voice and I knew that this was not just a thought from my mind, but a statement of fact from a higher level. I have never smoked again, and the thought of smoking revolts me.

My being made aware of this higher power that could affect my life made me realise that there is a God, and this was an event in my life to wake me up to the fact we are not alone. A veritable computer download of information that was to change my life. It was two years before I heard from God again.

My Spiritual awakening.