Journey in Hope | Interview 1 | Feat. Hollye Parsons

New Interview series beginning! Journey in hope desires to give a voice to those suffering.
By doing this we hope to raise awareness, install hope and bring ultimate glory to God!
Our first interview is with Holly Parsons, who tells us about her battle with cancer and Gods unwavering faithfulness throughout the changing circumstances.

https://linktr.ee/hope2families

Music by
Acoustic Tropical Travel
Yevhenlokhmatov

Transcript

Welcome to another podcast and video from Hope2Families.

Each message you hear will be a personal story of one individual that through difficulties in life, found hope, that hope that they found isn't a person, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Good morning.

It is morning, actually, still.

Good morning.

It is so good to have you here.

And I mean that, folks, it's been a while since we actually had some interviews or some testimonials.

Many of you are asking, and I'll tell you the reason for that.

There are many people doing testimonies at the minute.

For example, you can go online and watch brother Ricky Bell, the Gospel bus ministry do some testimonies.

Also, we all watch Pastor Nathan from up your country as well.

Holly, a lot of us watch that on a Sunday night.

So I was very conscious.

I've always been very conscious when there's testimonies and things out there.

I was told many years ago by a dear, godly brother, never had a spoke to a ready perfectly formed wheel.

So sometimes it can be too many things.

But what we're going to do is a little series entitled Journey in Hope.

Is that right, Holly?

Yeah.

I think you helped me pick that.

So we're blaming you anyway.

Journey in Hope.

So over the next number of weeks, we're going to have some stories.

They're not all going to be about cancer sufferers, not all of them.

We're going to be looking at some people that journeyed through life with mental health and still have some mental health problems as well.

There's other people that have got broken marriage problems.

So there's going to be loads of things in which we're going to just talk about hope through various situations.

So Holly, your journey has been very much similar to my own journey.

It's obviously a cancer journey.

Just before we get into that, Holly, tell us a little bit about your family.

I know we were just sharing about your husband there now, and I'm sort of kind of afraid of him now because you've told me he's this big guy that would sort of, yeah.

So tell us a little bit about your family.

The three kids are sitting outside.

Well, I'm married.

My husband's called Brian Parsons and he's a farmer from Fermanagh and we have three lovely children.

They're out there.

Toby, Madison and Jacob.

Toby's 12, Madison's nine and Jacob's four.

So that's my wee crew.

Toby is wearing a Liverpool shirt, I see.

So he's a Liverpool fan.

Yeah.

And he's a big, for anybody down our direction, clocker volley.

Very good.

Very good.

And he's got that.

I was just sending him this morning.

He's got them good set of shoulders as well.

He has.

So he'll be a good rugby player.

Hollye, it's so good to have you in the Hope2Families Centre.

Lovely to be here.

And I genuinely mean that.

I know there's a drop in, but some of the folk, they're being quiet for us.

Hollye, just fill us in a little on your diagnosis and just what you want to share, just when things or when you started to feel unwell, just as the Lord leads you.

Well, to be honest, I never really felt unwell.

I literally got up one morning and I wouldn't have been, I never would have checked myself.

I would have never have looked for a lump or anything.

But I got up one morning and I just literally felt it.

It was just there and it was big and it was nearly protruding.

It just seemed to come up overnight.

And at this stage, my husband, his mummy, was going through breast cancer.

And I just thought, oh no, I found a lump.

And we were going through this journey with her.

And I thought, I'm not even going to say anything to him.

So I went to the doctor, never said anything.

And as soon as I got there, I just sort of knew in his face, this was something.

And he says, listen, you'll be up not in a Gavin within a week, which I was.

And my husband, actually, his back had went that week.

He was really, really ill.

And so he was lying at home, and I headed up the road.

And I had Googled a wee bit, you know, you don't, you shouldn't Google, but you do Google.

And I remember hearing that if you start taking samples before you see the doctor, it's cancer.

And I remember getting the mammogram, and they're like sending me in there to get samples taken.

And I was lying on the bed, and I just wanted to burst out crying because I just knew.

And as I waited through the day, everybody was coming and going.

And I was actually the last person in the clinic.

And I remember just going in and breaking down in the toilet and saying, Lord, I just had to call him the Lord even before my appointment, because you're there on your own.

You had nobody with you.

Daddy wasn't allowed in.

He was out in the car.

And I remember going in and the Lord really helped and undertook.

I was so...

I was...

Because the man goes to me, are you OK?

Have you actually understood what I've told you?

You have cancer.

And I was like, yeah, yeah.

And I look back now and I definitely, the Lord undertook even right there and then.

And but yes, there has been a lot of tears.

As soon as I seen my daddy come out, I seen daddy and broke down and come home.

And it was really, really hard telling Brian.

It really was really hard because the previous year, his daddy had blood cancer.

Now it's just been, you know, sustained.

And then his mummy was diagnosed with breast cancer.

So it was really tough.

And then our wee girl Madison hadn't been well as well.

So it just seemed to be one thing after another.

That's what life generally is.

And as a Christian, it doesn't be any different.

That's right.

We were just talking about that.

Just in relation to Madison, Holly, just can you share a wee bit with Madison's journey as well?

I know that was in the family.

Briefly there, just Madison found a lump on her neck last year.

Yeah, the beginning of last year.

And it was very unwell.

It was laying about, no energy.

And it was growing.

You could see it was growing.

I could feel it was growing.

And by the time we got a scan with COVID and everything, they had said that it was something.

And they wanted to take samples.

And again, you shouldn't Google, but you do.

But I had actually had two tumors removed from my thyroid as well.

And thankfully they weren't cancerous years ago.

But I knew, I knew, but I wouldn't have no symptoms where Madison had symptoms, which was worrying.

And they told me to more or less prepare that this was going to be something.

But there was a lot of fasting and praying done for Madison.

And the Lord touched and healed her.

And the doctors could not explain where this tumor had went.

Because tumors just don't go away.

Tumors just don't disappear.

And what hurt had, the Lord had answered prayer for Madison.

Because the Lord will not give you any more that you can bear.

And I couldn't have bear maybe in sick on her.

The Lord knew that.

And the Lord undertook.

That's amazing.

And Holly, I want you just to share just your journey now.

You've told us about the diagnosis.

You've told us about all that.

But I just want you to share your journey.

In other words, just your testimony.

Just about the Lord.

Because Heather and I, when we watch you, always, okay, or we see you, we've always said the same thing that you've got a bit of faith.

I know you referred earlier off camera.

You used the word stubborn.

It's probably a good expression for you.

But we've always said there's something about Hollye Parsons.

As Christians, we know that that is Christ.

We know that is Christ.

And we can see Christ shining through you.

But just take us back.

Share what God just has done in your life through everything in your life, every valley, every trial, every mountaintop experience.

Just share as the Lord leads you your journey.

Well, I have to start because there has to be a start.

Absolutely.

And the Lord saved me 2014.

I think that's the right year.

I'm eight years saved.

Isn't that right?

January 2014, the Lord saved me.

What did he save me from?

Because I know there's people here listening that maybe don't know the Lord.

He saved me from my sin.

And we're all born in sin.

We're all shaping in iniquity.

And I was a sinner.

But for many years, I could not see my sin.

And through circumstances of life, the Lord brought me to a low place.

And it was sickness.

Sickness is used sometimes to bring us to that point where we'll actually look up.

And I had went through, I had two tumors removed from my thyroid.

After I had Tobii, I found two lumps in my neck and went in and they were growing quite rapidly and they were sticking them with needles every month.

And they said to me, listen, they're changing.

The makeup often is changing.

They will turn cancerous.

So they were like, right, whip them out, get rid of them.

And I had that operation and then I fell pregnant with Madison.

And then after I had Madison, I took a very, very bad virus that has actually left me half blind in one eye.

I can still drive.

You're thinking I drove up here this morning.

But it affected me.

I actually lost sight in my eye for maybe a week, but the sight returned.

It was a really bad, nasty virus.

And this was used.

This was probably the point where I was getting tired of life and I wasn't able to bear it.

And life is really hard to bear.

Absolutely.

And when I am going through this cancer journey and I look at people that do not have the Lord, I can see that heaviness in them.

And I thank God I don't have that.

But I'm not boasting.

It's because of the Lord that I can say that, because I have Him.

And that's when I started seeking the Lord.

My sister Gemma was saved quite a few years, and she was witnessing to me.

She was praying for me.

And even my pastor, Campbell now, I didn't know him at that time, but he was praying constantly for our family.

And now we all sit under his teaching.

But he was praying much for us, for me as well.

And my testimony is out of this world, if I can put it like that.

One night in my bed, after seeking the Lord, a good full year, I had been seeking.

Because the scriptures tell us, if you seek with Him, seek for Him with all your heart, you will find Him.

That's right.

So maybe somebody even that's listening to this has been seeking.

Keep seeking because you will find Him.

And in my bed one night, the Lord came to me and for many years as a young Christian, I could never put this into words.

And I still find it very hard to put it into words.

But I was taken to the judgment seat.

And I was shown every dirty thing that I had done, every thought and many things that I had done.

The people never ever would have known.

And the Lord graciously, I don't know how so merciful, allowed me to experience the judgment that I would face if I had died that night.

And I felt no condemnation of him.

And I just felt his love and his acceptance.

He says, listen, I have seen what you've done.

I have seen you in these states, but yet here I am, you know, and I forgive you.

But I knew that night that if I didn't take that opportunity that he was giving me, it wouldn't be given again.

And I never heard verbal words, but yet I had this whole conversation with him.

And I thank God.

It was a cry from my heart.

You know, people think it's repeating a prayer or something, but it was a cry from my heart that night.

And I cried out for the Lord to save me.

And when I woke the next morning, I didn't really know what I'd done.

I just knew I was different.

I knew when I went downstairs, there was something different.

And it really hit me whenever my husband swore and took the Lord's name in vain.

And I broke down in tears because that was my saviour.

That was now my saviour.

He saved me.

And yeah, it's from that moment on, it has been, you know, God's word tells us you're a new creation in Christ.

And I was, I was a new person.

I could not swear.

Swearing was natural to me before I got saved.

And I couldn't take the Lord's name in vain.

Even when we hear somebody swearing and taking my saviour's name in vain, it hurts me.

It's not pleasant.

And he's been doing the work.

I was deep in the world.

Listen, I tried to drink drugs.

I, you know, all the pleasures that went with that, I tried them.

And I've also had the pleasures.

I got married.

I had the nice house, work.

You know, I had everything.

Everything was going fine.

Everything.

But there was no satisfaction that was meeting anything.

And that's just the state of the world.

There's no satisfaction.

But there is in Christ.

Hallelujah.

And that's how I got saved.

I just want to come to that, Holly, because that's amazing.

Folks, I'd love you to grab your Bible, because what Holly's talking about there, you'll find it in Revelation 20, the judgment seat of Christ.

And it says there, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened.

And it's an amazing passage of Scripture, because if you notice what it says, I saw the dead, small and great.

And Holly, you have rightly said, and I find this amazing.

I was just saying at a youth event yesterday, I find it fascinating.

People don't have to be in church to get saved.

So here you are, Holly, in your bed.

And the Holy Spirit, we always talk about the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit comes to you in your room, and shows you this vision of the judgment seat of Christ.

And we want to stress this, folks.

Every person not saved will stand at the judgment seat of Christ.

And we always preach this in the Gospel.

It's too late then.

It's too late then, Holly, to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Holly's absolutely fascinating to hear how the Holy Spirit spoke to you on your own without being in church.

Take us just on a bit of a journey now, Holly, because you've talked about your cancer journey.

You've talked about any man being Christy.

He's a new creation.

How have you balanced the Christian faith?

You and I were talking earlier, and there's this big theology out there that if you're sick, like you and I are sick, Holly, and you've heard it, I've heard it.

Oh, there must be sin in your life.

Oh, you don't have enough faith, Hollye Parsons.

If you walk in faith, you will be healed.

Just take us on that journey, how you've just faced cancer, how you've coped with everything.

You've been through a big operation.

Yeah, yeah.

Just talk away and take us through that journey, Holly.

Well, I believe if anybody that has trusted in the Lord, you even have faith.

You know, you can't deny anybody that doesn't, you don't have faith whenever you are born again.

You trust it in the Lord.

You've trusted in the finished work of the cross.

You have faith.

And yeah, so whenever I was diagnosed, I never ever turned around.

And this might sound weird.

I've never asked the Lord why.

And that's to be totally honest.

And people think, oh, you're bound to have asked why.

And he goes, I actually have never asked why.

But I have said, Lord, help me.

And whatever I am going through, you get the glory.

Because as a Christian, that is what our main aim is.

As we walk as Christians is to give God the glory through it all.

And actually, I was reading through Toby's RE teacher, actually, Glenda Crawford.

Somebody might know her.

She had actually sent me one morning Chapter 18 in Psalms, and it's King David and all he went through.

And he went through so much, but he always gave God the glory with everything.

And that is it.

I want to give God the glory.

It's been a really horrific journey.

The chemotherapy is horrible.

I was very, very allergic to it, and I was pumped full of steroids for six months, and I was really, really ill with it, really ill.

And I had really dark days.

And I mean really dark days, but it's those days, the really dark days, that all I had to cling on to was the Lord.

And my heart goes out to people that don't have them.

It's like, what do they do in those really dark days?

And I really want people, through my walk, to come to know and trust in Jesus, because we'll still have these trials and troubles, because Jesus says, pick up your cross and follow me.

There's a gospel out there without the cross nowadays.

People just think they want the victorious life.

They want this prosperity, this go and have plenty of money on holidays and have easy days.

But that's not the way of the Christian life.

It's hardship and it's a battle.

Every day is a battle.

But we have a mighty captain.

Hallelujah.

His name is Jesus.

And I want people to come, especially people suffering cancer, because it's really, really hard.

And I want them to be able to call on him on those days and ultimately to know him as their savior, because we are all going to die.

And if you die without the Lord, you're lost for eternity.

And that's the guts of it.

So I just pray that my journey will point some people to the Lord.

If it was only for one person, I'd suffer it all.

I really would.

That's right.

I want to take you back just because, Holly, we all know them dark deaths.

All right.

Well, those of us that have them words, I'm sorry, it's cancer.

It's highly aggressive.

Just on that, Holly, what diagnosis medically did they say to you stage-wise, grade-wise?

What did they say medically to you?

Well, breast cancer, it's all new to me.

I had to look it up, but breast cancer is graded in its own way.

It's graded, it's not stage.

Right, okay.

It's graded one to three, and mine was three.

And...

I'm assuming, Holly, grade one to three, one being the mildest form?

Yes.

Grade three being the...

The worst, yes.

Mine was three.

And it was too large to be operated on.

It was growing at a serious rate.

I could feel it growing every day.

And it was...

It reminded me of sin, and it was just burning.

I could feel it burning in my body.

It was so, so aggressive.

And I just thought cancer is so like sin.

Because cancer likes...

Whenever you start learning about cancer, cancer likes to hide.

That's right.

And it doesn't appear until the very last moment.

When it's took as much ground as it can.

And that's a bit like sin.

You're comfortable in your sin for so long.

And it's like taking a drink of alcohol or taking your first drug.

You never think it's going to end up the way it is.

And yeah, so cancer, my cancer was really aggressive, and it must have been hiding for a long time.

And then it just exploded overnight.

That's an amazing illustration about sin, because that is exactly what sin does.

Remember that we used to say, in mission halls, sin will take you farther than you want.

Do you remember that song?

And that's so true.

So Holly, just for some of the folk that are watching that are really struggling with the chemo, we've got a few people at the moment that we're visiting, and they're really, really struggling with chemo.

Some of your bad days were bad, bad days.

They were bad.

And I'd really encourage, you know, believer or non-believer, that you really, I had a group of probably about 15 people that prayed for me, especially the first 10 days after chemo.

Like I went into, I wouldn't answer my phone.

I wouldn't talk to anybody.

I couldn't read, I couldn't pray.

And I was numb, if that sounds, I was really numb.

And I can relate to somebody now that maybe it suffers even with depression.

You know, I felt that oppression, you know, what people experience.

And all I could do was ask for prayer.

And I would encourage places like this.

Contact for prayer.

Contact somebody you know that prays.

And listen, there's people who say they'll pray for you, but there's people that will actually pray for you.

And I had people that actually pray and that I could call upon.

And I knew the difference with prayer, because we wrestle against spiritual things, not the flesh.

And I needed the anime drive back, because it's the mind.

And I can see how people can enter into deep, dark depression, even through chemo, because there's days I felt very near it.

And it was only by being upheld by brothers and sisters in the Lord.

And we are family, and we're meant to do that.

We're meant to encourage each other.

We're meant to come around each other.

And for a long time, the church hasn't been doing that.

But God's raising up people that are able to do there and able to stand with each other.

That's amazing, Holly.

I just want you to come to that point, because that's an amazing point.

Do you think the reason why Hope2Families came about in as many places like this, but this all came about by Pastor Roy Cairn June having this thought of a retired Elam pastor.

And they went through a cancer journey.

And they both felt, Holly, that there was a void within the Christian church.

You hit the nail on the head there.

Do you know the way people say, I'm praying for you, sister, or I'm praying for you, brother.

But they're not really.

And you need to get that nucleus of real prayer warriors around you that you know are really seeking God for you.

You mentioned a lady there, and it's amazing, so we'll mention her again, because she's been a real encouragement to my wife, Glenda Crawford.

And there's people like Glenda that are prayer warriors, and when they say to you, I'm praying for you, you know they're praying for you.

Holly, what's life like for you just now, balancing?

I texted you about five or six days ago.

I texted Holly about five or six days ago, folks, and it was funny.

You were heading to the farm yard, Hollye Parsons.

You were heading to the farm yard.

So you've got three kids, they're sitting outside.

Three kids, farmer to look after.

You're in the farm yard.

What's life like for you now, going through your journey?

Yeah, well, the hardest thing for me was I love outreach.

Me and my sister would go out on the streets, and we love a bit of open air, and I've always still tried to put that as my priority.

We have a gospel hall called the Welcome Hall down in Clabay, and that's still my priority as serving the Lord.

He's first and foremost in my life.

And then the kids come second.

The kids know that.

The kids know that I have to put the Lord first because I'm not a good mummy unless I'm not fit to cope with them unless I put the Lord first.

But daily life is tough at the minute, and I'm not going to lie because I'm on medication.

I had to start new medication this week, and it's been a battle every morning, and I have to truly put the full armor of God on because if I don't, my day is gone.

And, you know, choose whom this day you'll serve.

I try to choose every day.

I'm going up to serve the Lord today.

I'm not letting the enemy stain my joy today because when you've been lying in bed, looking out the window for nearly six months, you want to get up and you want to get out.

When I was going through chemo, my mum and all was doing, I'm going to laugh, she's going to laugh at this, she was doing me washing and ironing, but she's stopped doing that now.

She needs to get back in it so we don't have to encourage her.

I was saying my washing is piling up again.

I have to take breaks in the day now.

I'll do something maybe for an hour or two.

I have to sit down.

You get very tired very quick.

But I do love helping my husband in the farm.

I love the sheep, I love farming.

I see so much of scripture when I'm working with the sheep.

I know how the Lord used farming to tell his parables, because I just see so much of it in it.

I have to be a wife as well and say to my husband, and hope I do a good job.

On to the Lord.

I think you do, Holly.

Holly, it's a big journey.

Just on the medication that you've started, what could we and the folk that are watching, because there will be a lot of people watching, what could really those that are going to really specifically pray for you, are you exhausted in the morning?

What's your typical day like as soon as you open your eyes in the morning?

What are you battling?

Pain.

Yeah, I would have a lot of, because I had was with chemo, I had too much of it twice.

And it affects your joints and nerve damage, which I have permanent damage now.

And then the medication I'm going on now affects your joints.

So you'd have pain in your feet and your hands and knees, hips even.

A lot of pain, you know, but the Lord, I want to say that the Lord is using that as well, because he's disciplining me on that.

I need to get up in the morning.

I need to spend time with him.

I need to read.

And as a mum, I am people watching, it's very hard to do that.

You know, I have a wee cub still doesn't sleep at night.

And Jacob, he's a live wire, but I have to be disciplined.

I have to get up.

And the Lord is using that to discipline me as well.

And that might sound harsh, but it's not.

It's doing me good.

You know, it's deepening my walk with him.

I'm getting to know him more.

You know, I'm leaning on him more, because I was reading that to you.

I was going to ask you to read that.

I'm going to just read this in 2 Corinthians 12 and 9.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee.

For my strength, that's the Lord's, is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glorify in my infirmities than the power of Christ may rest upon me.

So Paul, the most godly man, like, you know, that served the Lord, and he chose to glorify in his infirmities.

And I choose that to do as well, to bring glory and honor onto him and hopefully to point somebody to him in the midst of it.

Holly, I've always looked at you.

This is my first time actually looking at you in person, I think, isn't it?

I have never met you until today.

But I've always looked at you, you know, and I watched you in the Lifebook not that long ago, and Helen, I always just say, you shine Jesus, Holly.

I want to encourage you today.

You shine Jesus.

So as we finish, is there anything else you would like to share?

Because you've got a big folder here and you haven't looked at the folder.

Scripture.

You haven't looked at the folder once.

Is there anything else you want to share with us?

Please, please.

I want you to take your liberty and share.

Just for those that are going through cancer and even going through mental health and going through maybe an addiction or something, you know, to look on to the Lord.

And if you do face trials as Christians, you know, it tells us in 1 Peter chapter 4 and 12, Beloved, think it not strange.

And that's one of my favorite things.

Every time, think it not strange.

Think it not strange.

Yeah, it's not strange.

Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened on to you.

But rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

And I'd said to you early, there's an awful, there's a gospel out there now that has scripture and then this victorious king, but forget the cross.

And we need to pick up our cross and follow him.

That's what the Lord told us to do.

And whatever that cross is, let us rejoice in it.

Holly, you are a blessing to us.

And you are too.

You are a blessing to us.

And I know that just sitting here with you today, I've been humbled by your journey, humbled by your smile, humbled even by your kids and just the three kids coming here today.

Well, they go everywhere.

They're amazing.

They're amazing.

Holly, we will be praying for you.

Thank you.

And continuing to pray for you.

Folks, we won't, really, if you don't know Jesus Christ.

Holly and I are, yeah, chatting.

And sometimes I remember someone coming to our house.

Holly, you were saying about, you remember not asking God why?

Yes, you were dead when it was dark.

Of course it was dead when it was dark.

But I remember a man coming to our house to see me.

And he said to my wife and I, surely, he was a believer.

Surely you were crossed with God.

Like, surely you were crossed with God.

Like, why you?

Why you?

Why you?

But we were saying earlier, Holly, why not us?

Exactly.

Why not us?

And I would most rather glory in my infirmity and bring glory to him.

And folks, Holly and I are trying to be honest.

There has been days, going back to my own journey in Alton Galvin, you were in Alton Galvin as well, isn't that right, Holly?

And I was in there like two and a half months, and there was nights, no visitors, no nothing during the COVID, Holly.

But I remember one night in particular, and it was dark and I was missing my boys.

Look here, I was missing looking Dylan because I hadn't seen them.

I was just missing them.

But I got down at the side of my bed and I sang that song.

Do you love that song?

All my life you have been faithful.

All my life you have been so, so good.

And folks, we want you to know this.

Even in the dark times, Holly, he is still good.

He is still faithful.

So, Holly, we love you.

We love you.

We love your passion for Jesus Christ.

You've thrilled us being here today.

Folks, if you don't know our Jesus, Holly and I want you to get to know him.

Amen.

We want you to get to know him.

Because here's the thing, I always say this to folk, how can you face life without him?

But how will you face death without him?

You need Jesus.

So, Holly, say goodbye to the folk.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Being stubborn, she's also got this bashful shirt of personality as well.

She's got this double thing and it's amazing just to see.

Holly, bless you folks, bless you.

I think the next video is going to be another young lady, Stephanie McCook.

An amazing story.

Now, it's not cancer related, but she's going to share a bit of her own journey.

But also, she's got a little child that has got autism, a really, really severe form of autism.

And it's just, it's an amazing story.

She's going to share her journey in hope through autism and through mental health.

So, Holly, thank you so much.

Thank you, Mark.

God bless you folks.

I'm Teh, we'll see you in the next video.