3 minute read
TESTIFY!
Victoria Sammons struggled with negative mental health following the death of her best friend. Having journeyed through the grief, she has a heart to serve and to let everyone know that their lives have purpose.
I was brought up in The Salvation Army in Hastings. Lots of people remember me as a baby. We went to church every Sunday and that was the norm. Where I really started doing my own spiritual walk was when I started going on Easter camps. My role models in the church have been Majors Alison and David Moody, Majors Julie and Rob Cope, Rosy Keane and definitely my mum. She’s our Children’s and Youth Worker in Hastings, and I’m really lucky to have that. It’s been a real comfort that my mum’s been there for me on my journey.
About three years ago, I lost my best friend to suicide. I was really angry with God. I used to blame him, and I could not, under any circumstances, figure out why he would do what he did. But over the years, I’ve learned that God knows everything before it happens, and he puts people in your life for a reason. It may not make sense at the time, but it will come together at one point. I do like to think she was put in my life so that I could bring her to meet God.
After that, I struggled with my own mental health. I was quite badly depressed and had really bad anxiety, and I put myself through a hard time. I am probably still not in the place where I’d like to be, but I can’t live in the past. I’ll never be able to keep living if I keep dragging myself down. Although there are so many things I wish I could change, there’s nothing I can do. Mental health is something that is so tiptoed around, but I really don’t think it should be. I feel like you could walk into a room of people and not one of them could say they haven’t been impacted by impaired mental health or all the stuff that comes with it. Speak up, because so many people will listen to you. I can’t stress that enough. Life is so valuable.
Romans 8:18 says, ‘I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us’. This really speaks to me, because it’s so true. Yes, you’re going through so much right now, and in ten years’ time this will still be something you think about, but you’re not going to feel the same. What I went through two years ago is nowhere related to how happy I am now.
I’m studying at EIT (Eastern Institute of Technology) towards becoming a nurse. Growing up in The Salvation Army, most corps were filled with nurses, firefighters and police officers, and then there were soldiers and corps officers, and those were my role models growing up. I think a lot of people in The Salvation Army think that the only way you can serve is by being a corps officer, but I’m a full believer that as long as you’re serving, you are contributing to the ministry, and that doesn’t necessarily have to be in the church. All I ever wanted to do was be a nurse and work in a hospital, and I’m really looking forward to that.
