And after that something was different. I was different. Not fake different. Not pretending to be something for God – but liberated – free to be my real self – offering up my gifts to serve God and God’s church. Before long I was on the PCC, reading, praying intercessions.

Then they needed someone to run the choir and I was able to step up. And I thought – “This is it! Clever old me, I’ve listened to God and now here I am!! This must be it – it’s Ok God, I’ve done it!

“You said move – and I moved.” But it turned out that God has taken me home to show me how to move – somewhere with a safety net. God was illustrating God’s point. That I could move and change and be all that God was calling me to be. Which it turns out was a parish priest.

So that’s my God story. I went through ordination training on the Northern Ordination Course while working full time, got pregnant half way through, didn’t delay training, and by the time I entered my curacy I was pregnant for a second time. I got a second degree in Theology from Leeds University at the same time too – with my liturgy Masters from Sheffield ending my Yorkshire Universities tour during curacy at Halifax Minster.

So that’s me – and how God has totally changed the course of my life. God reached in to help me be who God made me to be – to have an abundant life.

Perhaps you, like me, are not someone who is used to telling your Christian story in this way. I hope in reading this you can perhaps reflect on your own journey – the moments when God has changed things.

Revd Canon Rachel Firth.