While watching a nativity play, Felicity Barkus discovered the best Christmas present of all: Jesus and a revitalised faith for her and her distressed sister
Felicity grew up in a Christian home in Australia, with her mum and her sister. During her teenage years she was active in the youth group and went to Christian conferences. But when she started university and afterwards began working, her faith took a back seat. There it remained while she moved to the UK with her boyfriend in 1998, got married and had children.
Then in 2011, everything changed. "That year I returned to church at Christmas, and that's when my faith really started – it was like an explosion!" she says.
At the time, she had been very worried about her sister, Maryann, who still lived in Australia. She had been undergoing a terrible divorce. Living on her own, Maryann was struggling to pay the bills and had to work full-time to support her three children aged under nine.
Felicity had done some 'flying visits' back to Australia, but felt very helpless because she was living on the other side of the world. "I went back to her house and looked into her finances," recalls Felicity. "She was in desperate situation, trying to hold a job down. She was physically and emotionally at rock bottom, and financially crippled. It got to the point where there was nothing left, she had run out of all resources."
Felicity was worried, but as part of her normal Christmas celebrations two years ago, she went to see her son perform in a nativity play held at a local church, Holy Trinity Richmond. "It was beautiful," said Felicity. "There were 150 kids, all dressed up. We went right up the front, and we were really excited to see the show.
"At the first hymn, I just completely fell over. I was just struck by the Holy Spirit. I couldn't even breathe. What I felt, was that everything was all about just how much God loves you, no matter what is going on, and that He will help you, no matter what, if you ask Him into your life.
"I was bawling my eyes out, and walked out of the church. Strangely enough, one of the members of the church recognised me, she was a nursery teacher to my eldest son, so she came out. I couldn't stop crying, I was so emotional."
Felicity opened up about her sister and her desperate situation, and how worried she was. This friend offered to pray with her. When Felicity went home, she rang her sister straight away, and told her that she must go to church and get help.
From that very day, her sister turned a corner. She started to exercise and channel the 'deep darkness' into something positive. "She trained and went into a squad, and surrounded herself with people who wanted to look after their physical and mental health," said Felicity. "Her relationship with her kids is great. She has started up her own business, and bought a house. I'm just so proud of her.
"Maryann has a deep faith now, it happened for us both almost at same time. We both just went 'wow'. She would not have been able to do anything she's done in the last two years if she didn't have it. Her rod is her faith, and she knows God has a purpose for her."
"From that day, I have lived differently. God is in our house. God is in my children. Every day I'm thankful for what we have. Our family is very small here in UK, but the church just creates an extension to our family so that we go into an environment where I feel that everyone loves me and my children. They know us. They don't necessarily know everything about us, but I know that if anything happened to me, we would have the support and love of these people. I just feel the love all the time. I feel secure.
"I think a great time to visit the church is at Christmas time. I would just encourage people to get in there and explore, to see whether there is something that resonates with them, for their sake and their family. Christmas is a wonderful time to be celebrating, but also to remember why we are celebrating and the story of Christmas."
