Faith Stories with Naomi Reed

“I used to be a Hindu priest. Every day, I would do the worship at my home, or at the temple. It’s what I had to do … my father and grandfather did it … but I did it out of routine.” “Every day, I would put the offering in front of the idol, and […]

“After I was married, I moved from a small village [in west Nepal] to the big city. I had never seen a motorbike before, or any kind of vehicle, or a phone. Everything was new. We only had bicycles in our village.” “I hadn’t heard the dialect before, or seen the food. I had to […]

“I love making hats. I’ve been doing it for a few years now. I choose the fabrics carefully and I never make two the same. I’ve made over 1000 hats! But it’s more than the hats themselves. I love going to the markets and meeting people.” “Women come up to my stall, and they talk […]

“I had a heart attack when I was 17. I’d been playing tennis at a high level … and I was in the Queensland Championships. After the match, I went home and I jumped into our backyard pool. My heart went into spasm and I woke up in the cardiac ward at Brisbane Hospital. It […]

“I’m getting older. I’m nearly 50 now, so I’m thinking that I might only have ten years of active ministry to go. Of course, I might have more than that, but I can’t be sure. I could get sick. Already, I’m not as strong as I used to be. My hearing and vision is going.” […]

“In my childhood, one of my family members struggled with alcohol. It got worse when I was about 14 years old and that’s when I started to have questions. Why did that person drink so much? What could I do to help?” “At the same time, we had Christian friends in our village. They used […]

“My identity was always tied up in my sporting ability. I was pretty good at soccer and I played at different high levels … so if the game went well, I’d feel good about myself … and if I stuffed up, my self-worth dropped. I’d feel like I wasn’t good enough.” “At the same time, […]

“I do small things every day. We have 15 children in our hostel, as well as our own family. The children in our hostel come from poor villages [in Nepal] and we provide for them so they can go to school. Every day, they need feeding and looking after and helping with their homework. Especially […]

“I was always terrified by the thought of bush fires. I grew up in South Africa, where we didn’t have fires, so it was a new thing when we moved to Australia. We bought a house with bush on two sides of the house, and the real estate agent cheerfully pointed at the valley and […]

“After I was married, I came to this village [in remote Nepal]. It was very poor. There was jungle everywhere. I pushed aside the plants so I could walk through.” “There were many people living here from the Chepang caste. They were living in small houses made of sticks, and at night they were very […]

“Many years ago, my father became very sick and none of the doctors could help him. He had to leave his work and we had no money for food. Then his brother told my father to pray to Jesus, so he did. My father believed in Jesus and then a week later he was completely […]

“At 21, I went overseas with the wrong crowd. We were in Europe, in winter, using drugs and chasing women. Then we came home via Afghanistan, also doing the same thing.” “I lost all meaning … and it continued when I got back to Australia. Eventually, I ended up in a psychiatric hospital at age […]

“I work in academia and it can be highly competitive. This is my eighth year. For me, being excellent in science is part of my worship to God. But it can be difficult to achieve excellence.” “Success in science often means having significant impact and influence through a research profile, publications, grants, and other achievements. […]

“Psalm 91 has always been a favourite of mine – the whole chapter. And in 2004, I was asked to be a director of Prison Ministries. It was a big responsibility.” “As a director, you have to choose a team of 35 people and train them and journey with them for a whole year, co-ordinating […]

“My dad got leukaemia and he died when I was 13. We were very close. He used to pick me up from school and take me to after-school events. When he died, it was so hard. “I remember about a week or two after he died, my mum and I noticed an old black Bible […]

“I was at Bible College in 2002 and we were all asked to stand up and pray, to ask God what he wanted to reveal to us, about something we each needed to deal with.” “I stood there and I prayed, but my mind kept coming up with different things – perhaps God wanted me […]