Faith Stories with Naomi Reed

“I was playing cricket for South Australia, semi-professionally. In July of 1984, I said to my wife I wanted to give it one more crack, to see if I could finish off my career well. I was training really hard. The same month, the doctors discovered I needed open-heart surgery. It was picked up by […]

“I’ve always been skittish, ruled by my emotions. I tend to burn the candle at both ends, jumping into things, saying yes to everything, without thinking. There’s no doubt I believed in Jesus as a young person. But early on, I wasn’t fully committed. I did things in my own strength. I had one foot […]

“My mother and father were Irish Catholic immigrants to New York City. They married there and had five children and opened an Irish bar. I learnt to play pool in that bar. It was fascinating for a child. Catholicism was also ingrained in us from a very young age. I remember being on my knees, […]

“I grew up in a high mountain village, in Caucasus, Southern Russia. It was a Muslim area. In my heart, I was a devout Muslim, although I didn’t wear head covering. I would fast and pray and listen to Islamic preaching. They said if you don’t follow Islamic teaching, you will go to hell. I […]

“Growing up in Palestine, with an Islamic background, I knew a few Christians (and what they believed), but I thought they got it wrong. The first time I knew there was a different story (to the Islamic story) was from a TV cartoon. The cartoon was made in the US, and broadcast from a channel […]

“Perth in the 1960s was fairly provincial: to be pregnant and unmarried was unthinkable, a shameful disgrace. I was so naïve, I didn’t even know I was pregnant until five months. I was also self-centred and had other plans for my life. So, when my parents arranged for me to be sent to Melbourne to […]

“I always knew I was adopted. I didn’t look anything like my life parents or my brother: they were peas in a pod … and I looked like I was photobombing the family photo! While there were some issues growing up about where I came from, I knew I belonged with my life parents. My […]

“Back in the 1950s, Sydney was running out of water. Only 20 per cent of the city had proper sewerage and it was becoming critical. I was a student engineer at the time, and I was sent to work on the building of Warragamba Dam. There were 2000 of us, working 24 hours a day, […]

“I’m 101, and I’ve still got most of my marbles. I’m weak in my body but I can still pray. I have much to be thankful for! The Lord Jesus has become increasingly real to me since I first opened my heart to him at a Scripture Union camp in London when I was 17. […]

“My mum and dad were Hindus when they married. But my grandmother was a Christian. She prayed and fasted all the time, like anything. She was a prayer warrior. Sometimes, she prayed overnight. Seven years after my mum and dad were married, I was conceived. When I was born, my mum and dad dedicated me […]

“Sadly, the home I grew up in was domestically violent. My father was a petty thief and a compulsive liar. He had a few spells in prison. When I was five, the police came and arrested him for stolen goods that he’d given to us as Christmas presents. He would steal clothes for us from […]

“I grew up on a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, in the time of the British Raj. We were quite poor. We didn’t have a lot of ‘things’. We ate food from the gardens, and eggs from the chickens. But we grew up under grace. Both my parents had a strong faith in Jesus and […]

“I grew up in a devout Catholic family, where we said the rosary every evening. I remember thinking that Jesus died as a martyr or as an example of suffering. But I wasn’t sure why he did that. After school, I went to university and heard the gospel for the first time. It was like […]

“I never knew who my father was. My birth certificate doesn’t mention him. My mother was 17 at the time. Later, she became an alcoholic and she had mental health issues. Basically, she didn’t cope with life very well. When I was one, she married my stepfather. Outwardly, he came across as the great rescuer. […]