A Story Of New Opportunities and New Life (5 min read)
You don’t always get to hear what God is doing in people’s lives when people are new to faith – or indeed to those who have known him a long time.
Clare (Gittings) sent Neil a string of text messages between her friend, Nina and herself. Nina has been to church from time to time before she moved to Stockport. I asked permission from both of them to share the messages – they are moving, encouraging and challenging all at the same time. But most of all they encourage us to remember that God is at work!
From Clare to me:
I am going to send you the beautiful testimony that Nina gave at her church in Stockport yesterday.
My Journey of Faith – Nina Moulodzadeh
I was born into a Muslim family, but I always carried many unanswered questions in my heart. Maybe no one could tell from the outside, but deep inside, I was constantly searching for a deeper truth.
Still, I never imagined that one day my life’s path would lead me to faith in Jesus Christ.
During the Zhina revolution in Iran, I was working as a nurse in a public hospital. Those days will never leave my memory. Every day, I heard the cries of wounded people—teenagers with bloody faces, girls with deep wounds, men with broken bones. Many of them were too afraid to even come to the hospital.
We, the nurses who truly cared for our people, had to treat their wounds in silence, at night, in hidden homes. I risked my life many times—just to ease someone’s pain.
Sometimes my hands would shake so much I couldn’t even start an IV, because I knew that if they found out I was helping a protester, I could face torture, prison, or even execution.
And eventually, those threats became real. My name ended up on a list. Friends of mine were arrested. One of my colleagues looked at me with tears in her eyes and said: “Nina, you need to run—before it’s too late.”
So I had to leave behind the job I loved, my family, my country—my entire life. I fled to a country where I didn’t speak the language, knew no one, and had no idea where I’d go the next day. I felt like I had lost my identity.
In the summer of 2024, I arrived in the UK and was placed in a hotel in Stockport. There, some of my friends occasionally talked about a church nearby. They said it was friendly to refugees and even had Persian-language materials. But me? I felt absolutely nothing. In fact, I was deeply angry with God. I was mad at Him. I had shut Him out.
Many nights, alone in my hotel room, I whispered through tears: “God, what did I do wrong? Why did You do this to me? I only helped. Why am I alone? Why don’t You hear me?”
On Instagram, I followed the news from Iran every day—blood, torture, executions, mothers screaming in grief. I still carried the pain of my people with me. And slowly, I fell into deep despair, depression, and complete loss of identity.
In January 2025, I was transferred to a shared house in Manchester—and things got even worse. I cried at night. During the day, I didn’t know why I was still alive.
One day, a kind friend—someone who had seen how broken I was—gently said to me: “Nina, just come to church once. You don’t have to do anything. Just sit and see how it feels.” I don’t know why, but something inside me said: “Try it. You have nothing left to lose.”
So I went…
The first time I walked through the church doors, something shifted inside me. It didn’t feel like entering a building. It felt like I had come home. Not just to a new place—but to a family.
A kind woman with warm eyes and a gentle voice welcomed me. Her name was Catriona. With a smile, she said: “Welcome, dear. We’re so happy you’re here.”
Next to her stood a gentle and calm man named Andy, who kindly said: “We’re all family here. And now, you’re part of this family too.”
I sat quietly, full of hesitation, but my heart and ears were open. And in just a few hours… something in me began to calm down. My panic attacks eased. I hadn’t taken any medicine. I hadn’t received any therapy.
But for the first time in months, someone saw me—not because of my asylum case, not because of my pain, but just because I was me.
Around the same time, I met a kind woman named Clare at another place—while collecting food parcels. When she heard my story, her eyes filled with tears. She held my hand and said: “I will pray for your peace. I believe God can heal your wounds.”
She never judged me or tried to control my choices. She just gently encouraged me:
“Read the Bible. Pray. Keep going to church. God hears you—even when it feels like all hope is gone.”
Some time later, Clare invited me to her home. That day, her husband Julian welcomed me with kindness and gave me a Persian Bible as a gift. He even helped install a Bible app on my phone.
Holding that Bible in my hands… I felt maybe—just maybe—someone was beginning to see me again.
But the most powerful moment came on Good Friday, April 18th, 2025. Clare took us to her church for a special service about the crucifixion. When I heard that Jesus suffered, was humiliated, whipped, and died—so that we could be saved—I couldn’t stop crying.
For the first time, I felt that someone truly understood the pain I had carried with me from Iran. I felt that Jesus had been beside me, even in the darkest moments when I thought I was utterly alone.
After the service, we went to Clare’s home and watched a film about Jesus’ life. That night, when I got back to my room, I found the same film in Persian on YouTube and watched it again. And in the stillness of that night, I sat by my window and whispered, with a shaking voice:
“Jesus… if You are real, come and touch my heart. I’m tired. I’m broken. But I want to start again—with You.”
And that night, for the first time in months, I fell asleep peacefully. No panic, no medication—just peace.
From that night on, my life began to change.
I started to pray, to read, to listen—and with each day, I felt more light enter the darkness of my soul.
And now, when I look at my journey, I understand something deeper:
I was a nurse. I had spent years healing the wounds of people’s bodies. Jesus heals the wounds of the soul. He touched the broken, listened to the forgotten, and brought hope to the hopeless. And perhaps, without even realizing it, I had been walking in His footsteps all along.
Yes, I have lost many things—my home, my job, my language, my country.
But in return, I found something greater:
I found my faith. I found my hope. I found Jesus.
And now I know:
I am not lost anymore. I am a beloved daughter of God.
Clare’s message to Nina:
When I retired a year ago – I knew I wanted to do some volunteering, and my plans were that it would be at the hospital and would involve elderly people. I was aware though that my plans might not be God’s plans, so Neil prayed with me, for God to lead me in the right direction. I started to help at food parcels, thinking ‘I don’t think this is really where my heart lies, but I’ll do it for a few months’.
I had never really encountered any asylum seekers or refugees before in my long NHS career and didn’t know anything about ‘the system’. I had felt vague sympathy towards their collective plights, but this was from a distance, because I knew nobody personally who was in this situation. Anyway at food parcels, I met various people and listened to their stories and I knew that this was something that really touched my heart!! Then I met you and Nani and heard your stories and loved you both straightway and wanted to support you. It is because of you and Nani that I came across the Conversations Over Borders organisation, and began to volunteer as a befriender and English conversation tutor. I am now paired up with a lady from Kuwait and we meet online once a week for a total of 16 weeks.
I have also read and learnt a lot more about immigration and the suffering that so many people have endured.
So, as you can see, my life has been enriched by you and others like you. I just see that as God’s perfect timing!! I was working before so had less time, but God planted me in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time and pointed my desire to help people, in the right direction.
Final text from Clare to me:
I feel quite unworthy of her words about me, because I don’t think I have done anything of note, other than befriend her and Nani.
I have always thought of evangelising as being a bit embarrassing to be honest, thinking of it as often being very public. I have talked to her about Jesus, but I didn’t introduce Him to her. She was already going to church in Stockport. What I am now realising is that by accepting, loving, seeing and hearing someone and by just being a friend, I HAVE been evangelising, but just not in the way I have thought of as traditional! One of my favourite quotes has always been, “A Christian’s life is a window through which other people see Jesus”. It should have dawned on me sooner!!
I wonder if other people are like me, and don’t think of themselves as evangelists? I think it’s very encouraging that there is not a standard way to do this, but various ways, depending on ones personality and gifting!!
Coming Up In September
Looking Back and Looking Forwards
Sunday 14th September | 11:30am | Church
Our Church began in 1950, so this year is our 75th anniversary. We want to give thanks to God for this in a special Sunday morning service on 14th September. So please plan to be with us on that day.
On the two Sundays before we will look back at all that has happened, and forwards at all that is to come.
Prayer for the New Starts
Thursday 4th September | 7:30pm | The Vine
Part of this giving thanks and praying for courage for the future will be the focus of Prayer Gathering on Thursday 4th September at 7.30pm in the Vine. Come and ask God to do more with us thank we can imagine.
Hog Roast
Saturday 13th September | 6-9pm | Church
On Saturday 13 September from 6-9pm we are having our annual Hog Roast. Tickets are £10 for adults and £5 for children. Come and join us for music, chill time and chat. Bring friends and family. It’s any easy event where you can introduce your friends who don’t belong to church yet to friends who do.
See Kate Blundell (07805 069033) for tickets.
Housegroups
Begin from Tuesday 9th September | 7:30pm | Various locations
Housegroups begin on Tuesday 9th, Thursday 11th (online and in person) and Friday 12th September and then every two weeks. These are opportunities to get together in a small group, to read the Bible together and chat about how it applies to your everyday life, to pray for one another and situations you are facing.
If you are part of a group, then you will know how to connect. If this is the time for you to join a group then see Neil, Ian or Sarah for help in knowing which one to join.
Alpha Course
Tuesday 9th September | 7:30pm | The Vine
Alpha begins on Tuesday 9th September at 7.30pm in The Vine. A chance to explore faith for those who are wondering if Christianity is true, or for those who have made a commitment to follow Jesus but want to find out more about the basics of Christianity.
Bible Course
Tuesday 9th September | 7:30pm | The Vine
Do you ever get confused about the storyline of the Bible, or wonder how it all fits together?
Join a 8 week course that begins on Tuesday 9 September, 7.30pm in the Vine.
New to Church Lunch
Sunday 5th October | 1:30-2:30pm | The Vine
On Sunday 5th October from 1:30-2:30pm there will be a lunch for anyone who is new to our church. It’s a chance to hear more about who we are and how you can connect into our life together. There will be sheets to sign up at the Information Stand, or you could let Neil, Sarah or Ian know.
Giving
Thanks to everyone who gives so faithfully – through Givit, Standing Orders or in cash. We really appreciate it. However you give, if you pay tax (and most of us do these days – even those of you receiving pensions) we can reclaim that tax for the church through Gift Aid. You don’t pay anymore but we receive 25% more. If you haven’t already signed up for this, please take a sheet from the Information stand, fill it out and give it us back. If you want to chat about it, see Jo Parkinson (our Finance Officer) or one of the pastors.
