Order this book from Victory in Christ Ministries in Enfield, North London 

A love story with a heartrending thread, Pat’s long marriage has twists and turns, reversals and finally redemption and new beginnings. In sharing what could have been an everyday story of marital betrayals – and taking the reader through the pain and often the joys of reuniting with her husband, it demonstrates what is possible when forgiveness and faith are allowed to play leading roles in a marriage.

Introduction I Do; I Do; I Do falls into the testimony book genre. It is a memoir, a powerful story of love and forgiveness in the midst of betrayal and heartache. It is written primarily from a wife’s perspective. The strength of this book is the story itself of marriage restoration – all the more amazing because it is true. This book is intended for those who find their marriages are in trouble, but who still love their spouses, and wish to find an alternative route to the finality of divorce … also if divorce has already taken place – this book is for you. And this book is to give hope to those who are in despair – whether you are people of great faith, of little faith, or of no faith at all. I DO; I DO; I DO (Love Always Wins) I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD. Be strong and take heart. Wait for the Lord. (Ps. 27:13-14) These verses have been marked in my Bible over eleven times within a period of twenty years. God’s promises are worth waiting for, even when His timetable doesn’t match our own expectation or desires. (New International Version Bible study notes; author’s emphasis) Who would have ever thought it? Who could ever have imagined when I first set eyes on James, my charming husband-to-be, that we would be repeating our marriage vows no fewer than three times over the course of 37 years? If someone had said this would be the case, I would have lashed out verbally and accused them of being totally deluded, fanciful – not switched on to reality at all.  

Buy this book now from Victory in Christ Ministries in Enfield, North London 

NEW CHAPTER – MY CHILDHOOD

Here I am, nine years old, sitting round the table with my family and neighbours, doing the Ouija board. 

We had our own homemade board. I am sure a lot of people that we knew had a set of letters and a glass in their cupboard. My neighbour kept hers in a glass cabinet for all to see, it was a regular thing for our family. I would sometimes come home from school, and there would be about six ladies all sitting round the table asking the glass questions, hoping they were going to reach great Aunt Sally, or Cousin Fred. The thing is, the dangers were not known to us, and then we grew up with it as normal, so yes when the glass did move, and it spelt out something, we believed that someone was there. Yes, something was there, but it was not anyone who had died, it was Satan and his demons trying to convince us that this is good, so let’s do it again and again! Is it any wonder that so many strange things were always happening in my home where I grew up?

There was often the smell of cigar smoke on the landing upstairs. Once, I saw a hand come around my bedroom door and turn my light off. When I said, “Thank you Dad”, he had told me later that he had not been upstairs. Mirrors would seem to attack us that were leaning against a wall, but nothing was moved in front of it. We would go ghost hunting round graveyards. Is it any wonder I was afraid of my own shadow and afraid of the dark? I always slept with the landing light on as I had a small window in my room, so the light shone through.  I was always looking behind me scared of what I might see. So many more stories, but I am not going to give the enemy any more of my time.

My childhood was not always a happy one. I did not have a close relationship with my Mother. She never showed any emotion to me, no hugs or affection. I was a modern-day Cinderella and did lots of the cooking and housework. I can remember days when I had to wash the lino in the sitting room, wait for it to dry, then on my hands and knees, I would put polish on the floor. All the time I would have to work around my mum, Nan and three neighbours all sitting drinking tea. She did not want to kiss me, if I went to kiss her goodnight; she would turn her face on the side and put her arm up so I would end up kissing her cheek. I don’t know why she was like that, perhaps she did not know herself, but she behaved differently with my two brothers. 

People have since told me it sounds like emotional detachment. We all have emotional needs as we are growing up, especially as little girls. Little girls need to feel loved and special. They need to have that love from their parents before they go looking elsewhere for it. All children need to feel confident in them and encouraged to feel that they are special. I did not feel any self-worth, I was not confident in anything that I did other than cleaning and cooking. My family were very negative people; I was always told the negative things about me, never anything good. Because of this, I ended up with a poor feeling of my reflection, each time I looked in the mirror.