Pembury Baptist Church

Becky gave her testimony on being freed from the addiction of self harm when Rev. Philip Davis spoke on 'Transformation' and has kindly allowed us to reproduce her words on the website for encouragement to a wider audience.   We praise God for her freedom from this debilitating but common issue among young people and pray that it might make a difference to others to hear her words.

Her testimony was as follows:

Last year I had a really rough time in my life and I took everything bad that happened to me and turned it into harming myself.  Self harm was the answer for me and I was just addicted. I was even going to the Self Harm Clinic.  I couldn’t face going to the Self Harm Clinic every week so my friends would make me go and even take me! I dreaded it every week and I would do everything to avoid going.

I was doing it for months.  It all started soon after Dad died as I thought I could punish myself for everything and I even connected suicide with it.  I really thought there was no hope. I went through a stage where I was doing it almost every day and it was the worst thing I could be doing with my life.

Now its 6 months on and I can stand up in front of everyone I know and love and say I used to be a self harmer. I used to be in that bad place but now I am on the other side and I know there is a lot to get out of my life.

People who knew I was going through this didn’t know what to do or say.   I had huge support from all my friends and they hadn’t been through this before but they were such an encouragement, it kept me going.

When all this was happening Mum didn’t have a clue and even today I’m not sure entirely what she knows but I hope she can tell there is a huge change in me.  Other people are seeing it and it’s so good to hear.

With the self harm I dreaded every day and I hit rock bottom but for everyone who is struggling out there, I can stand here today and tell you to keep on going. Its not going to be easy but I got through it and with the right support I truly believe anyone can overcome an addiction.

I never believed I could get this far but now the thought of hurting myself is something I am scared of and I totally believe God is part of this. I had a huge amount of support from Simon and Sam through the church and I spoke to Andrew a lot about it.  Without these guys I don’t know what I would have done as God totally spoke through them to me. I also started meeting with Emily and both she and Dan have been amazing to me.

I am sharing this with you as I care about you a huge amount and I want to be an encouragement to you all.  God has transformed me over the past few months and He is still changing me one day at a time.