Welcome everyone to the Sister Storey podcast.
This podcast is aimed at marveling at god's sovereignty in each of our lives as women.
And that's encouraging 1 another with our stories.
My name is Sophie, and today I am joined by Saskia.
Hello, Saskia.
Hi.
So, 1st of all, obviously, we're going to be talking a little bit about, your journey to faith and and your life now.
But first of all, could you tell us a little bit about who you are? Well, I'm Saskia.
I'm 23.
I'm almost a graduate of Kingston University studying fine art.
And I'm about to start a PGC.
Lovely.
In which years? Early years.
I'm very excited.
Yeah.
I'm sure.
And and so if we start your story with, your childhood and what that was like, can you tell us a bit about that? Well, my childhood was quite interesting.
My parents, they got pregnant really young, and, my dad was a heroin addict, so he had to, not be part of my life, which was really sad.
And was difficult.
My mom is mentally unwell.
So I had a really hard upbringing where I looked after her a lot.
But there was something really, really missing in my life because I I felt like I was always caring for for her.
And I didn't really I understood there was lots of responsibilities in life, but I didn't I I was like, but why is this happening to me.
Why why is everyone else's mommy and daddy is so happy? Yeah.
And I didn't really understand that what I was going through was not normal either in a way.
But, yeah, I I went to see a v like, primary school, and that was really great because I heard about Jesus a lot, which was And I really believed he was real, but I didn't know I didn't I I thought everyone thought that So I see.
Oh, I wonder how that family life made you feel like he was saying he didn't quite understand Were you maybe angry or upset about that or not really at the time? I think I was quite up.
I was quite upset about it because I I was like, if I just like I didn't know what to do with it.
I didn't know I I was like, this can't be normal, but this can't be like, what where can I turn to? What can I look for help from? It was just very strange, very strange.
Wow.
And so you're saying that at school, that's where you heard about Jesus for the first time, How, how did you react when hearing about him? What did you what did that make you feel? It made me feel joyful, which is such an amazing emotion because I had so much pain around me, but there was so much joy, almost.
And I knew my mum loved me, even though she was ill and could could change very easily from being happy to sad or but I really, really knew she loved me, and it made me really question like, this feeling I got when I heard about about god in school, where I had this this joy and this relationship at home because you always, like, look to that parent, which is kind of when I was hearing father, it was really hard for me to understand because I didn't really have that.
So it was it was actually really comforting because I needed 1.
I needed a father.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's amazing.
And so how did things develop then in your life? Is there maybe a time when you would consider that you truly understood the gospel, and you gave your life to Jesus.
So how did that work out for you? Oh, well, I went off the rails a bit.
From, like, maybe 14 to, like, 15.
I went completely off the rails.
I made friends with the wrong crowd.
We hung out at this bandstand we were all emo.
It was quite funny really, but, I don't know.
I I then was, like, questioning what the purpose of me just being like this and not caring about life.
And my grandma went to church, which is really cool.
And I was like, wow.
Maybe maybe if I go, maybe if I ask if I can come with her, then I can find out who god is and maybe change my life.
I wanna I don't want to live like this.
And lo and behold, I went.
Yeah.
That's quite interesting as a teenager that you had that impulse to look again for what you had in childhood, really.
Yeah.
So what happened then? Did you go to church? Or yeah.
I did.
I looking back, it was quite funny.
I wore, like, all of the most stuff.
I had, like, a t shirt with, like, this lady brains.
Which is so great.
Oh, yeah.
And I was going to church, and I was I was really nervous to go to the youth group.
And I was like, And then this girl came up to me and she was like, do you wanna come with? And then I met all these really lovely other youths my age and got to know them and I actually think through them being so friendly and welcoming, I actually got to hear the gospel properly and not just think, oh, I'm going to fix myself.
Actually, I can hit when I heard the gospel, I realized it's not me who's gonna fix me.
It's god who's gonna fix me.
Yeah.
That's an amazing news, isn't it? Because we're not able to do that at all.
And so, yeah, so you had that realization.
So it probably made click where you had in childhood, which is just amazing.
And so how how then did your life carry on and develop, how did you decide to do fine arts, for example, at university? Oh.
Sorry.
That's maybe a big question.
Well, it is.
So both both my parents are artists.
My mom really liked really fine detailed drawings.
She used to draw things all the time.
And I'd be like, wow.
This is so beautiful because she doesn't really communicate very well, but she can communicate through the page.
And my dad was a graffiti artist.
Before all the drugs, he was really obsessed with, like, doing some really cool graph.
And then I was like, oh, seeing these pictures, because I knew my grandma, my my dad's mom, and she would show me stuff, and I'd be like, wow, this is this is nice.
And my my grandma would be like, oh, aren't you so such an important thing? And I would love drawing and making things.
And I was like, that's what I want to do in life.
That's what I wanna go on to do.
And I actually think it's such a beautiful way of glorifying god because he is a creator, and he creates through such beautiful.
Like, the world is so beautiful.
Why not make art as well and create like he does, but more if I got through So I was like, I that's what I wanna do.
That's amazing.
So did your relationship with your father then remain something that So was it is it still quite distant, and do you just hear from him, about him, sorry, from your grandma? Or is he someone present in your life at the moment? It's interesting.
He He lived in Cumbria for ages, which is near Scotland.
And then I got in touch with him when I was maybe about 12:30.
And he he's clean.
And he had a child, which was why I contacted him.
He'd sent me a card every single year, and I didn't know about them.
My mom hid them.
I found them, and I was wow.
There's a card every single year, and he wanted to get in touch with me all this all this time.
And then she was like, you can contact him now.
So I did.
And Wow.
Something happened with his family's circumstance, and he moved just across the road from me from when I was 13.
And now he lives maybe 2 minutes from my mom, which is really weird, but we got to reconnect.
And, actually, that was 1 of the most important parts of my life because I was just about I was on the cusp of rebelling quite a lot, and I I actually needed a father figure, even though I I still felt very distant from that, we had more of like a friendship than I feel it became more of a friendship.
And it still is and I I'm really thankful for that friendship.
It's it's it's so weird.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
I wonder was a your view of god also changed changed you in that way of approaching your father maybe differently.
Don't know I don't know what you think about that.
Maybe that's not exactly it.
Whether that helped you to kind of process things and and kind of come close to him? Yeah.
I I well, that's that's an interesting question, actually.
I I guess, I guess it definitely made me feel let.
I think I was very desensitized to the idea of father.
Yeah.
So, actually, all of this happening at the same time, I guess I did approach god more like at the maybe at the beginning more like, oh, he's like a master.
But then recognizing that Jesus is called friend as well.
It's it's so beautiful.
Yeah.
It is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Such a amazing picture of how many names Jesus has given, like, wonderful counselor.
I definitely needed that.
I definitely needed a wonderful cancer.
Wow.
That's amazing.
And so I wonder how, your parents reacted when they heard that you had become a Christian.
Is that something that maybe there was a strong reaction to or or not really? Oh, very, very good reaction, actually.
I mean, my my mom's never really been very like.
I mean, she has a Bible.
And I I think at times, I've asked her and she said god's not real, but I can see this as, like, in your life and you're very, like, firm in it.
And with my dad, He would say he prayed for me in, like, our local church.
And he said when I was in my my worst state, I prayed that I would meet I'd meet a woman and I'd have a have a child who would then save me almost.
And actually, it's quite it's quite beautiful.
She.
Because god does hear those prayers.
Yes.
And even though he's not he's not necessarily Christian, he He's read the Bible.
He's really interested in it, but he's not given his life in that sense.
Yeah.
So a good reaction, but not not 1 of turning to god themselves.
Yeah.
I mean, he's had moments.
He's definitely had times where he's like, wow.
Christ is real.
Which is quite amazing.
Yeah.
Oh, that's great.
Definitely something to pray for and shock.
Great.
And so how Yes.
How did you end up in Cornerstone, really? With all these things going on, how did you arrive here? Yeah.
So I moved here for university.
And in the 1st in the 1st 2 in the 1st 2 weeks, I was sort of going.
I'm gonna look at churches, and I got, a message from a friend from my home church.
She said, oh, I've just moved to Putney, and there's a really great commission church here.
You should check out the there's 1 in Kingston.
You should check it out because I think they're really sound and, yeah, I really like I really like our church community and things.
You should check it out and see if you you you vibe with it.
Great.
Maybe that's the wrong word.
I think that works.
Yeah.
And how many years have you been here then? Oh, I think I think it's 3 now.
I went I did a year abroad, so Yeah.
I was away for it yet, but 3 years.
Yeah.
Where did you go? I went to Switzerland.
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Oh, that was last year, wasn't it? Mhmm.
How how did you find that experience? Wow.
The 1st semester was, not COVID.
So it was very different from the 2nd semester, but actually, even in the 2nd semester was so amazing.
We made such good friends and it was just such a great opportunity to get to know people so so well almost.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
Yeah.
And actually that leads on to my next question, which is, about what you have learned in this last year, because obviously, it's been such an extraordinary year for everyone, and we've all had very different experiences.
But is there anything that you would say god has taught you in this year? 1 thing is that I'm not in control.
I can't make plans.
He makes plans.
And that is such a beautiful thing.
The fact that we don't have to control every element of our lives, we can't we physically can't.
And this this pandemic has shown us that, hasn't it? And, I really, really believe that god has played does where he wants us at that specific time.
And he, always places us in the right place.
And 1 thing is that you don't even realize how little actions actually make such a big difference as well.
When I was living in Switzerland, I had I lived with 3 very fairly messy boys.
And, and I'd left, like, a new testament that's in 4 languages, which is quite impressive, really, but it was in 4 languages.
The 4 sort of, like, I don't wanna say main ones, but I guess main European ones.
And I had a French, flatmate, and he read how he read well, Matthew, but in French, which is, yeah, so amazing.
Yeah.
I still can't say it properly in French.
It's okay.
You.
Oh.
We will move on from that.
So don't worry, guys, that she can't say this word.
Right.
That's that's amazing.
I I think you had a lot of people who seemed to get to read the Bible, for your time there and even throughout this year as well.
Yeah.
What yeah, I just wonder how, how that happens, really.
I I mean, I mean, god is behind all things, but that's amazing.
Oh, definitely.
Yeah.
That must have been really encouraging for you as well.
Oh, yeah.
And I I mean, more encouraging things happened.
I mean, I was supposed to move into a house, with some friends.
And then suddenly 1 of my friends fell out with all of them.
And she just sort of stopped talking to them and then was like, oh, let's move in somewhere else.
And we happened to meet my now housemate and we had 1 conversation and that completely changed her whole life.
You just don't know the impact of your words.
Because now she's started coming to church and she's given her life to Christ.
You just don't know what can happen.
Yeah.
It's absolutely and it should be so encouraging that even in a pandemic, god works, yeah.
And it's not through us, and it's not anything to do with us.
It's all to do with him, and he uses us for good things, for good purposes, which is so beautiful.
Yeah.
It's amazing to know that our very imperfect words can have such, such impact on people's lives if god chooses to use them, in these circumstances.
That's amazing.
I think we can finish with, maybe if there's any advice that you would give to perhaps younger Christians, what would you say to them? Oh, well, I think 1 of the most impactful thing in my journey with Christ has been getting into the word I mean, it said so often, but it's it's the most important thing.
I used to actually have before I came to uni, I had, like, a youth bible, which was so weird I was 19, and I was late, youth anymore.
And someone commented on it.
I was like, oh, and then I I bought a journal in Bible, and it was so helpful because you can sort of unpick it.
And because I'm quite creative.
I like, highlighting and color coding things and drawing things that helped me to remember those things and actually finding maybe a Bible plan so you can sort of start to see it unveil maybe, read some Commentaries and I mean, when you don't I find that when I don't even know what to read, I just read a Psalm because they're so simple, but they apply to so many different situations in our lives.
And it means we're reading your word, but also it sometimes it's more you can pray it as well.
Is, which is really beautiful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Thank you so much, Saskia, for sharing your story with us.
That's all for this episode, everyone, to join us again next time.
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