Nick and Donna Rogers have chronicled their amazing story in a new book.,,,
A man so desperate through depression and gambling addiction that he doused himself with petrol in a suicide bid was healed after a miraculous wind blew through a meeting at a Christian conference.
Nick Rogers estimates he lost at least £500,000 through gambling, which also wrecked his first marriage, his relationship with his five children and cost him his grocery business.
Nick, now aged 63, was living on the streets, and spent months on a psychiatric ward being treated for depression and suicidal tendencies, before ending up in a Manchester halfway house.
On the eve of the new millennium, in a Salford park, he covered himself in petrol, ahead of planning to set himself alight. He called out to God, and two police officers appeared “out of nowhere”, returning him to psychiatric care.
Nick married Donna in 2002, but his gambling addiction continued and eventually forced the sale of their home.
Donna, 64, who has written a book about their life together entitled The Gambler, His Wife and His God, said: “There were always people after him for money he’d borrowed. I couldn’t pay the mortgage, couldn’t pay the bills. The bailiffs would be banging on the door. Letters through the door. Debt upon debt.”
Nick, who had been a reluctant Christian unsure about the Holy Spirit, accompanied Donna to a Christian conference to Detling, Kent, in 2004.
“It was called ‘Praying With Fire’,” Donna recalls. “There were about 300 or 400 people in this huge marquee on a boiling hot day without a breath of wind.”
The meeting leaders said they believed God wanted to heal people, and they were going to pray and invite people for prayer.
WIND
“We started praying and there was a wind. It went around the tent and the tent sides started moving and the roof started moving. People started falling over. I thought, ‘Oh no, Nick will be running for the doors here; he’ll be really freaking out.’ But no. The next thing, he’s up at the front.
“One of the leaders put her hand on him. She didn’t even ask what was wrong with him. She just said: ‘God says you’re healed from your depression and your gambling addiction.’ Down he went and that was it. He got up a different man.”
Nick hasn’t gambled since and was able to immediately stop taking his anti-depressants.
The Coventry City fan shared part of his life story on the club’s website for Responsible Gambling Week, warning of the perils of gambling and revealing to fellow fans: “I found a strong faith and became a Christian. I have a strong faith and that’s the main thing that turned my life around. I’ve been 17 years free now and life’s good.”
The couple, from Glossop in Derbyshire, for years ran the Christian eatery Café Jericho in the town. They attend the Love Life Church in Barnsley.
The Gambler, His Wife and His God is available on Amazon.
From New Life Newspaper issue 339
