My name is Michael I am a fairly new Christian but I feel God has had his hands on me since the sixties when I was first introduced to born agan Christians through a fellowship called The Open Door Christian Church. After returning to England I kept coming into contact with live Christians who were constantly challengeing me to commit my life to our Saviour, but being a rebellious sort of person I kept refusing to do so. Some of the people I met over the years stand out in my memory like Paul and Mary from California, Maggie Dawn all three of them living in Lewisham and serving the lord through YWAM (Youth with a mission),Poh Kong Fung, George Ham, and Vanessa all members of the BCCF ( The Birmingham Chinese Christian Fellowship). I feel sure the man who had most impact on me was The Rev. David McInnes. At the time he was the presenter at the Anglican Cathederal in Birmingham, and he also run a unique establishment in Ethel Street in Birningham called The Jesus Centre. Those people I met well over thirty years ago and without making a commitment God still had his hand on me protecting me.

I left school at 15 and trained to be a chef but after training I soon found out there was no glory in kitchen work so I took in-house training courses for front of the house management and then I carved out a successful career in hotel and catering management. The only trouble was, as I became more successful I wanted more of what the world calls important things and I began drinking to a point where it got totally out of control. As I progressed along the downward spiral I went from being a manager sought after by companies with problems to a manager drinking more than two bottles of Famous Grouse a day, who was himself becoming a problem. It was not long before being in very well-paid positions and drinking good stuff I was living on the streets with many other acoholics and drinking jack or cider or anything else that would satisfy my need.

About twenty-three years ago in the south of England I was living rough with a friend of mine called John. One morning I woke up and went to wake John up but he was dead. I ran to Simon House in Paradise Street and they got the police for me and ambulance I then had to go through the ordeal of going to the coroners court to explain what had happened. They had found out by then that John had choked to death on his own vomit. The headline in the local paper that greeted John's sisters when they came down from Scotland was (and I quote) "LOCAL DOWNANDOUT FOUND DEAD IN DERELICT BUILDING". My God, I will never forget those words because they could have been about me. I had been in several clinics over the years for drying out. I used to dry out, get fit to drink again and go back to the drink. I never stayed for the treatment to help me give up the booze. This time, however, was totally different. Though I stayed and went through a course of therapy, it was very painful to go through mentally (that is, more than physically).Towards the end of the course our doctor James asked if we wanted to abstain from drink totally or become social drinkers. I said AA had never worked for me so I would love to become a social drinker and that was my aim. I have never been drunk since.

God never took his hand off me it seems. About twenty-one years ago I met my wife Tracey. We dated a few times and I was honest with her. I told her I was an alcoholic. A few months later we married. I was 44, Tracey was 18 - yes, a 26 year age difference. Some of our friends said our marraige was doomed, but we have had nine children and we are still together as happy as ever. We now live in Hala, a district of Lancaster.

In the late summer of 2006 a church from Lancaster, King's Community Church (KCC), was holding a fun weekend at Hala and Tracey and I took the children along to see it and see what was going on - really being nosey one might say. Well, lo and behold here I was again confronted by born again Christians, but by now I must admit I knew they had their lives sorted out, and I knew in my heart of hearts that they were right in following Jesus. Well, we went down to the green for each session and I was happy to see my wife and children were impressed by the things they heard and how God had worked in people's lives.

The pastor of the church, Ian McLean, was really used by God to talk to me. I liked him as soon as I started chatting to him, and then to my surprise he had studied at Birmingham Bible Institute (BBI) and he had also lived in Cleveleys when I lived in Blackpool. We had known so many people that each of us had known it was uncanny. God knew what he was doing when he made Ian and I meet; we had mutual friends in Birmingham such as David Mcinnes, Nick Cuthbert, Colin Day, and many others and then to our surprise we also had many mutual friends in Blackpool. Well, by now God was really speaking to me through Ian and I knew I wanted to give my life to Jesus, because looking back over my life if God had not had his hand on me I wouldnt even be here - I would be in the pit with Satan.

I now saw a problem. My children were becoming interested in giving their lives to Jesus too which made me very happy. By now we were attending KCC and so I hung back on making my commitment until the children sorted themselves out. Well, much to my delight the ones who were old enough decided to commit to Jesus and then I could and did in a flood of tears at the KCC. I felt I had to let the children make up their minds first because I didn't want them following me. I wanted them following Jesus our Saviour. Although we are now saved, life just doesn't go smooth but whatever problems we have we seem to be shown a way out of them.

In 2009 we had a man come and speak at church. His name is Hilson Carter and he shared a message he had received from God to arrange a tent mission on Morecambe sea front. But the Lord had only given him eight weeks in which to arrange everything. It seemed a mammoth task, but myself and my family put our names down to help with the misson in a very minor way - us being new Christians. As the time of the misson approached, my health was getting worse I was having trouble walking. I had a great deal of pain in my feet and back in the kidney area of the back. As the mission finished on the Sunday my Doctor had me booked in for tests at Lancaster Royal Infirmary on the following Thursday - they were going to test for cancer in my kidneys, my bladder and my prostate, and I was not looking forward to the tests. The mission was going well. We saw healings and people giving their lives to the Lord on the very last night of the misson. David Falcus, the evangelist who God had used mightily in healing people at Morecambe came up to me in my seat and asked me to come forward. "Why me?", I asked. "Because your children want you to". I could not refuse. I told David of the pain in my kidneys and the tests I was having for cancer on Thursday. He prayed for me and laid his hand on my head. As his hand touched me I felt a great heat from his hand and I was filled with the healing of the Holy Spirit. I didnt even know I had fallen to the ground until I realised people were helping me up to my feet. I went back to my seat and then suddenly noticed the constant pain in my kidneys had left me I was over the moon. I told my Tracey who was beside me and then I went to the front again to tell David that the pain had left me as quickly as that. “Very good", he said "Now lets have a go at any cancer that may be there." He prayed and laid hands on me again and again. As the Spirit filled me, I ended up on the floor being helped up.

I must say how good God has been to me as well as other Christians. I went for the medical test on the Thursday and all the tests came back negative, clear of any cancer or anything else. PRAISE GOD AND THAT IS HOW I WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE - PRAISING OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR.

Michael Lebaldi.