Changed Lives
Dawn and Martin Ball
A few weeks later I asked her if I could go along with her to church.
Dawn and Martin Ball have recently become members of Market Overton Free Church and would like to tell you a little about themselves.
Dawn’s Story
Hi I’m Dawn and I became a Christian after being brought up in a non-Christian home. I was around 11 years old when I began to question what life was all about. I met a friend at Secondary School who was a Christian. When we were both in the Sixth Form (age 17) my father faced a heart bypass operation which I was very worried about. My friend’s father had heart problems too but she seemed to have a calmness and peace about the situation that I certainly lacked.
We got talking about this one day and it became clearer to me that it was her faith and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave her this peace.
A few weeks later I asked her if I could go along with her to Church, as I wanted to find this ‘peace’ for myself. The sermon was about the Lord Jesus giving us peace when we trust Him and accept Him as Lord and Saviour in our lives. I left the Church that day a changed person, having found that peace for myself.
Praise God that was 21 years ago and I thank him for the answers He gave to the questions I’d asked about life and all that it means.
Martin’s Story
Hello I’m Martin, I was brought up in a Christian home, I went to Sunday School and learnt of Jesus and His love for me from an early age.
I can never really remember a time when I did not believe in God, but I do remember a point in my early teens when God challenged me with the claim He had on my life.
I was brought to realise that I needed to make a decision as to whether Jesus is who the Holy Bible says He is and was I willing for Him to be the overall control in my life. At that time this was quite a simplistic faith but now at the age of 43 I am still as convinced that God has that claim on my life. I know that through good times and bad He has given me resources to go on that are beyond my own.
Our Story
We were married 4 ½ years ago in 1998, a time during which we really felt God’s hand and blessing in bringing two people from different towns and churches together.
In the past year we have been through the heart breaking experience of having a stillborn baby girl at 5 months.
The pregnancy began fine but at 15 weeks Dawn had the results of standard blood tests that indicated that the baby was a higher risk of having Down’s Syndrome, they also indicated another raised level that could indicate spina bifida but a scan showed no obvious problems at this stage.
The hospital did keep a close eye on Dawn and at around 20 weeks it became evident that the baby had a serious heart defect. We went and saw a specialist in children’s hearts, who confirmed that this was the case and that the baby would probably die before birth.
Our daughter Grace was born last November after a scan showed that she had died. We called her Grace to remind us of all the good experiences that God gave us during the pregnancy and birth.
This has been a very hard time but we have found and are convinced that God’s love and care is not just there when times are good but also in the hard and apparently black times. We do not understand why this happened to our child but we do know that God upheld us each step of the way, and continues to do so day by day.
UPDATE 2004
Emily Grace Ball – born March 8th - Weight 5lb 12oz
“Our beautiful daughter was born naturally with no heart problems. It is hard to explain how joy, sorrow, elation & concern could all combine in this one event. We again praise God for His strong hand upon our lives and each day we thank Him for this wonderful miracle of life, a bundle of exuberant challenge that has exploded into our lives." M & D.