By Clare BruceFriday 14 Jun 2019Inspirational StoriesReading Time: 2 minutes
She calls Australia home now, but in 2011, Amanda Howard was a resident of Christchurch, New Zealand—when the earthquakes hit.
Like many in that city, Amanda was traumatized – by not only the first quake, but the dozens of aftershocks that followed. So much so, that she and her husband decided to pack up and start a new life in Australia, far from the dangers of fault lines and falling buildings.
But writing a new chapter wasn’t easy.
The trauma and fear followed her to Sydney, and Amanda found herself living in an unfamiliar place, with no friends or family around her, ‘trapped’ in a house with a toddler, a new baby, postnatal depression—and feeling very, very alone.
“It felt like I had no-one,” Amanda recalls. “I couldn’t go to a church, I felt like I was stuck in this suburb. And I got quite depressed. It was just so hard.”
A Beacon of Hope on the Radio
The day Amanda discovered Hope 103.2 on her radio, though, was when things began to change. It was the lifeline she needed.
“I thought, ‘What can I do right now that is gonna pick me up… what can I do to have another human connection? So I turned on the radio,” she said.
“[Hope 103.2] made me feel really good. It made me feel connected. When I tuned in to Sam and Duncan in the morning it was exactly what I needed to hear. It made me laugh, it made me get out of myself enough, to feel energised for the day.”
Amanda says that Hope 103.2 gave her the emotional boost she needed each morning, to start her day well.
“Hope definitely helped me find my feet again.”
“Hope definitely helped me find my feet again,” she said. “It helped me find my relationship with God again, and from God I found church, and from Jesus I found the courage and the ability to go into situations that scared me a little – knowing that everything would be okay.”
Amanda loves encouraging others to listen to Hope 103.2, because she knows what a difference it makes.
“A message will come on that will encourage you to do more. It will encourage you to serve others, it will encourage you to feel good about yourself,” she said. “Hope has definitely done that for me.”
Help Others Like Amanda
To make a difference in the world of other people like Amanda who a looking for a lifeline too, why not support Hope 103.2’s “You Make Hope Possible” Appeal.
Give your tax-deductible gift now through our donation page.