Amy’s Story: Meeting Jesus at University

Written by Amy Adcock

I grew up in Coventry. We used to go to church when I was young, but it stopped when my parents divorced and just kind of fizzled out of our routine. So faith wasn’t really part of my life. Christianity was very much just stories to me – and stories that didn’t really hold much weight.

Throughout secondary school, I had a clear plan that I wanted to go straight to university and study an academic degree. But when the time rolled around, leaving sixth form, I hadn’t had a very good time at all. I had relationships and friendships break down as well as issues with the actual A level exams and I didn’t feel like I had the right support. It turned me into quite an angry person – I had a lot of anger towards education and how it had failed me. So I took some time out, did some travelling (before covid put a stop to that) and then reapplied to university to study animation which was something I’d really loved, but hadn’t considered studying before.

I began university in September 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, and the government had assured us that it was completely safe to go to university. Despite having a lot of anxiety about it, I told myself ‘it will be fine’. I’ve never been so desperate to make friends. I had this fear that I wouldn’t get along with the people in my halls and, actually, that fear became a reality. My flat was a very toxic environment with alcohol and drugs. In some senses that was okay - I had come to university understanding that people had freedom to do what they liked – it was uni after all. But the lack of respect that I didn’t want to join in was where the issue really lay. So that was a hard place to be.

And outside of our household, it was impossible to make friends because of the covid restrictions. You were allowed to go into university, but only for seminars and we had to wear face masks and stay two meters apart. I mean, how were you supposed to make friends in those circumstances?! It was crazy!

Within the first week of university, my whole flat had come down with covid. We all got covid, and there was a lot of blame there. And because of the covid restrictions at the time, I was physically trapped. I couldn’t leave – none of us could leave. So I became trapped in this toxic household. At first I thought I was fine, but my mental health slowly started to decline because I was stuck in a really hard environment.

It’s funny how things coincide with each other. I had scheduled a facetime call with my best friend from home for some time in the second week of uni. We rang, and I just broke down. I wanted to go home but I was stuck. This friend had links with St Nic’s through connections between her church youth group and the St Nic’s youth group. She was like, ‘I don’t care what you think about Christians or church, but you just need to contact St Nic’s and find some help and support.’ I can’t fully remember how exactly I got in contact with St Nic’s, but somehow I did and (after I’d recovered from covid) I ended up going for a coffee with one of the student workers, Kez. My main memory is that I felt so comforted just by going for a coffee with Kez and hearing about all the things that St Nic’s did to support students. I thought, ‘This is what I need’! I didn’t know if it was going to be a long term thing, or just for that term, but I knew what I needed was to be taken in and looked after. I was so far out of my depth and so desperate for friends, but there was something about Christianity that reminded me of my childhood and I wanted that back - I wanted that comfort, I wanted that security that I used to have as a child.

So then began this weird season of being in my room on Sunday evenings, going to church on Zoom and then going along to ‘WetherZooms’ after the service and getting to know other students. I joined the Student Community (on zoom) and that was a really solid space for me to learn. I felt quite out of my depth to begin with – everyone seemed to know so much about the Bible and I didn’t know anything! It was quite daunting! But I really enjoyed just being in their presence and listening to how people were actively engaging with Jesus and the Bible.

There was one evening when it was my flatmate’s birthday – everyone was drinking and I just didn’t want to be there. There was a lot of drugs and I kept saying no, but there was a lot of peer pressure which made me feel uncomfortable. More people started arriving and it just got worse and worse - I needed to get out. So I messaged Laura, my Student Community leader, and I managed to escape to my room. We ended up having a phone call for about an hour, even though it was late at night. It was just so comforting to know that there was someone there praying for me and helping me through that situation. I felt a sense of God really protecting me in that moment. This was one of the moments when I knew that faith in Jesus was something that I wanted to live out.

I look back and I can see God reaching out to me before I became a Christian. I thought it was just weird coincidences that kept on happening and sometimes I think ‘wow, how did I miss all those things?!’ Now, I actively try to listen and seek God out, recognising where God is at work and not just seeing it as a coincidence.

Looking back on it now, I am actually quite grateful that I was in that challenging position in my first term of university. Being in those hard circumstances forced me to go out of my comfort zone and turned me towards God. Before I often felt alone, but now I know that God is always with me. Knowing Jesus has changed everything.

Amy is a final year student at NTU studying Animation. You can listen to Amy’s whole testimony (and Craig Hunt’s too) on our seminar recording from the Student Weekend 2023.