Digital Editor’s Note: I’m delighted to welcome longstanding friend of Sorted Magazine and the host of Sky Sports Soccer Saturday, Simon Thomas, as our Guest Writer. In this surprisingly honest article Simon opens up about the difficulties, and the triumphs of his personal journey over the last few years.
Simon writes: One of my favourite TV shows is The Repair Shop on the BBC. It’s become a hugely popular show. In a nutshell (if you’ve never seen it) the show is filmed in a beautiful old barn in West Sussex, and in the barn are a whole group of expert craftspeople.
In each episode members of the public bring in items from old clocks that no longer work, to pieces of broken jewellery to tired old pieces of furniture. Often these items have very little monetary value; but to the person who owns them they mean everything. They might be an old family heirloom or something that reminds them of a loved one who has passed away or an old toy that evokes memories of a happy childhood. The emotional value of these items to the people bringing them in is immeasurable.
Each show follows the story of these heirlooms being restored to their former glory, and the show always finishes with them being reunited with their owners. As the cover is lifted from the restored clock or childhood teddy bear, there is often a visible emotional reaction, as they see that beloved item restored to its former glory. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has found myself shedding a tear as you witness this moving moment.
But for me it isn’t just about the restored item; it isn’t just the joy of seeing these highly skilled men and women in action; it isn’t even just the emotional reaction of the owner that has caused this show to connect with so many people, I think it taps into something much deeper – as people, we love stories of restoration.
We are drawn to the power of the restoration narrative. Whether it’s the story of a football team that has risen from the ashes of almost going out of business, or the moment Tiger Woods came back from his life implosion and injury hell to win The Masters in 2019; or a classic car being brought back to life, we love seeing life being restored.
But most of all we love seeing the restoration of people. We love the comeback narrative. We find inspiration in seeing someone for whom life looked almost over, rising from the ashes and becoming their glorious old selves again.
The Christian faith I have had since I was just a young lad is all about restoration. The God I follow is in the business of restoring broken lives. The story at the centre of the Christian faith is the ultimate story of restoration, with Jesus rising from the dead having been brutally crucified three days before.
In late 2017 and for the next couple of years, I was like one of those items brought into The Repair Shop. I was broken, I was in pieces, I was an emotional mess, the colour had left my life and I feared I was beyond repair.
In the space of a few short weeks towards the end of 2017 my life was turned upside down and inside out, after my first wife Gemma died very suddenly from a rare, but aggressive strain of blood cancer at the age of just 40.
In three short days from her diagnosis to her death I had gone from a 44 year old happily married man with a brilliant eight year old son and a wonderful job presenting Premier League football on Sky Sports, to being in the darkest and most fear filled place I had ever been.
Life for me now felt over. I was beyond repair. My only aim in life after this biggest of blows was to somehow keep it together for my boy Ethan, get him through school and college and then my work was done. Beyond this life felt pointless, and more worryingly it felt devoid of hope. Over many moths my life descended into a dark period of alcohol abuse and despair. On more than one occasion it led me to the precipice of ending it all.
But somehow throughout this; despite my anger with God that this had all happened; I held on to my faith – even if at times it was by a single finger nail. If my life was ever to become something again, a life worth living again I had to find hope – I had to find purpose again. Time and time again a verse from the Old Testament would come to me during those dark months and it’s a verse from Micah, chapter seven:
“Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be my light.”
The story of my life over the past few years has been this – in the same way The Repair Shop brings loved family heirlooms back to life; the God I follow has been the master of turning devastation into restoration.
Somehow out of the wreckage of late 2017 he has done something extraordinary in my life. It’s been a tough and rocky road to walk at times; but God has been incredibly faithful, he has never left my side.
I have met and married the most amazing woman Derrina, I have been blessed with two more children (Talitha and Theo) and having been in the career wilderness for may years after leaving Sky in early 2018, last year I became the new host of Sky Sports Soccer Saturday. And after years of alcohol self medication, I have now been sober for over two years.
I don’t write this last part as a boast, or a moment of ‘look at me now’ I write it to be an encouragement. Whatever your story is; however much you may feel battered and bruised by the storms of life; God is still massively interested in you. There is no situation too hopeless for him; no life so broken it’s beyond repair. And in Him there is always, always hope.
He is the master craftsman; he is the God who brings restoration, life and hope out of the ashes.
Main Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sky Sports
Read more of Simon’s story here: Love, Interrupted | Free Delivery at Eden.co.uk
Watch a message from Simon here: Simon Thomas – Hope in the Darkness — Streams.Studio (streams-studio.com)
Follow Simon on Instagram at simonthomastv
