Nick Szkiler
Anneka regained consciousness within a few minutes of the accident. Her 15 year old body had been flung 40 feet through the air by the impact of a speeding motor coach on the A64 trunk road. Even with the health and resilience of a young body many were astonished that Anneka was not killed instantly.
August 18th 2005 is a date etched in my mind by a manifestation of the power of God I had never previously experienced. "I can't breathe" she said, and then "I don't want to die". I told her she would not die and I had a sense of assurance that I had spoken the truth. Indeed she would live. Ten days later she and her mother walked into the kitchen of my farmhouse and gave thanks to the Lord for her life. The local press called it 'Anneka's miracle recovery' but they didn't mention prayer. God saved Anneka that day. It was indeed a miracle and I was given the faith to believe what many would think impossible.
That was 9 years after I had given my life to Christ. Friends would ask why I had become so religious. I explained that this was not about religion, but about faith. "What are you - Catholic, Anglican, Methodist?" they would ask. I told them that I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that I wanted to live as a follower of Jesus - a Hebraic faith we in the west call Christianity. Many were puzzled - they still are. The usual labels they were familiar with didn't seem to fit. Over the years I have stopped believing in coincidences and I avoid words like incredible. With God anything is possible. I had discovered that this was the one thing in life I had to believe before I could see. I read of the mighty men of the past - men like Rees Howells and Smith Wigglesworth who's life message was 'Only Believe'. These men prayed and things happened. I was encouraged by their stories and many others. The more I believed, the more I saw. The more I trusted God, the more my life became a roller-coaster ride of experiences in which the invisible touches the visible and the seemingly impossible becomes real.
Back in 1996 I had invited Jesus into my heart. I told Him I was sorry for all the things I had done wrong - as a car salesman I had a long list of lies and half truths, yet I had never seen myself as a bad man. I was just like most of the other business people I knew. I confessed that I had done wrong and I told Jesus that I believed that He had died on the cross to pay the price for my sins and that He had risen again. I asked Jesus to give me a new start with Him as the Lord of my life. I could write a book about all the adventures we have had together. Some ask 'What changed?' I usually say 'everything'. I found I could not be the way I was, speak the way I did or do some of the things I did before-things I thought were O.K. I was given compassion and a love for people had never experienced before.
After 5 years I prayed another life-changing prayer. I asked God to outwork in my life the plan He always had for me. I opened myself to receive that plan unconditionally. I guess the first 5-year phase of my training was over and suddenly and unexpectedly I began to meet people who were sick or bereaved. For four years this became about two-thirds of the people I met through business as a classic car dealer, a quite astonishing proportion given the business I was in. Many received the Gospel. I praise God that many were also healed.
In the autumn of 2006, trading at the car business which I share with my brother seriously worsened and I had the sense that this was the time for me to close it, sell it, or allow my 24 year old son to take control. We chose the latter and in 2007 God blessed the business with its best ever year. I now spend much of my time working with musicians, creating music and to be frank, taking risks I would have never dared to before I became a believer. I have learned that though times can be tough, God has our best interest at heart and His plan is to prosper us, teach us and walk with us through this world, and if we choose Him we'll continue that walk into eternity.
I attended church since I was an infant. I can't say it was very exciting, but I believed there was a God, I just didn't know him or have any kind of relationship with him. As an adult businessman, giving my life to Christ was a bit like a regular flyer deciding he would take a parachute jump. Everything seems familiar until the door is opened - and once you jump - Wow!