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I studied medicine at Oxford. It was awesome

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

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‘I studied medicine at Oxford. It was awesome. I rowed and coxed, edited the medical school gazette and was on the student committee. I had a great group of friends. We went out and drank a lot, and basically, I got more and more fuelled by my own ambition and what I thought was success. It made me quite arrogant. 

‘I walked past a church with an Alpha banner and I thought I would go and argue them down and then get on with my life. Little by little I saw that the people were thoughtful and intelligent, but they really loved Jesus and believed what they were saying. I realised that these were the first proper Christians that I had ever met. Their lives were beautiful. That was really important. 

‘It came to the Holy Spirit Away Day and I was asked if there was anything else that I wanted to ask. There wasn’t. So, begrudgingly, I prayed. Nothing crazy outwardly happened, but inwardly I immediately knew a peace that I never knew before. 

‘The lady who prayed with me then read 2 Corinthians 5.17. It says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here.” I come back to that verse repeatedly. If I think that nothing has changed, or I think that I’m not good enough or that I can’t be used by God, I remember that. 

‘Thankfully, I don’t feel like that too much. But these verses say that it is finished, the work is done and the striving is over. I was striving, definitely. It’s a relief not to be striving now. The striving is over. It’s my definition of freedom.’

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