Good Good Life

Helen Price, United Christian Broadcaster (UCB)’s radio presenter, on the airwaves shares the message of God’s love and acceptance. And she does it in an energetic and joyful way. In our interview, she shares her testimony and what helps her to keep going when everyday gets a bit mundane.

I love listening to Helen Price on UCB 1 . Her voice brightens up the days for many listeners.

She is always positive, encouraging and talks about different topics with a lot of grace. I wanted to find out more about her spiritual life for a while and share with you all as it’s a great encouragement for anyone.

So, I am really pleased to be sharing this conversation we had a few months ago.

When presenting your programs on UCB, you come across as joyful, energetic, and encouraging. Have you always been like that?

Helen Price: My parents always say that I was a happy child and I remember being enthusiastic and wanting to get involved with things when I was younger. But when I was 11, I started suffering with very bad acne which significantly lowered my confidence.

Unhappiness in my appearance, but also comparing myself with what culture told me was beautiful, i.e. airbrushed images or celebs who have a team of beautifiers, and allowing others around me to influence my actions, led me to developing eating disorder in my 20s and made me very unhappy about my physicality. I don’t blame all these factors as no one told me to try it but I allowed their behaviour to influence mine. A perfect storm if you will. As a result, I rejected myself so no one else could reject me. Looking back, I can see that I developed the disorder because of the lies I told myself, so now, I’m passionate about helping people.

How did you change then from that to who you are now?

I grew up in a loving family as one of six children – my mum encountered the Holy Spirit when I was five, so I don’t remember life when she wasn’t a Christian. My father didn’t become Christian until I was 18 (it’s a whole separate story), but he’s always been a loving and caring man.

Christian faith was part of my upbringing and so it always was there, in the background, but at the same time I divided church world from rest of the world. Not because the church I grew up in wasn’t teaching the right things, but because I always wanted to be in the world, and I didn’t think the two went together. When I went to university, I wanted to experience the world. I held onto some morals and wisdom, went to church out of habit, but I wasn’t interested in faith. After university, I pursued a career in television – I always wanted to be a presenter.

It was very hard to get into TV, so when I got my first job after many, many months as a freelancing runner it was hectic. Through the next 8-9 years, I experienced many amazing events, times and places, and grew my knowledge, but I was super busy, travelling a lot. My faith was this thing I would always come back to – but I wasn’t committed or submitted to Christ.

From the age of 20, I developed an eating disorder. I was ashamed. I lived in denial. I didn’t know how to articulate my struggles. I thought it was something that wasn’t affecting other people. In hindsight, I can see it affected all my relationships, my physical health, my confidence, and mental health. And obviously my relationship with God.

When I was 26, I went to a Christian camp I used to go to with my family when I was younger. I always had brilliant time with God at that camp. At that camp, I finally realised I was never going to be good enough. That’s the whole point that Jesus doesn’t want me to be good enough. He just wants me. I finally understood Philippians 1:6: “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

Before that there was something missing in my understanding – I never felt like I was good enough. I thought one day I would feel like a ‘proper’ Christian and I would get rid of wanting to go out, having a good time, wanting to have a boyfriend. I always had a sense of justice – worked with homeless shelters, in kids’ clubs, went on mission to Africa. What I realised then was that Jesus didn’t want me to be good enough, but He wanted me to follow Him.

Was that your turning point?

I realised that faith is a journey, not an attempt to get to a destination. It’s the greatest freedom, as CS Lewis sums it up, that Christianity doesn’t require special education. Christianity is education itself. At that point I was ready to submit. And then, that summer, I felt this almost physical urge to get baptised.

It was wonderful – me and my siblings got baptised by our parents. It was all unplanned. A miracle. For my dad who’d been a Christian for about eight years at that point, it was a significant moment. For me, it was not a moment of emotional change; it was a quiet decision I made when I realised that following Jesus is a relationship. That’s what we all learn at church, but that summer for me it wasn’t theory anymore. It became my reality.  

How have you navigated life since then? We all have our Christian honeymoon periods, but then we need to apply faith to real life.

My lines weren’t straightened out instantly, but something changed in me. I still had and have slip ups and I want to say that because we can speak from a place of healing after we’ve been through an experience but there will be people reading this who are still going through a difficult time. They need to know that these things don’t get easier instantly.  

Sometimes we use term ‘Christian’ synonymously with perfect, but so many examples of faith are imperfect.

When I started to struggle with eating disorder, I still had the foundation of love and my mum’s Christian upbringing.  I learnt that God loved me even though I didn’t feel it. But when I went down the dark place of not liking myself, I allowed the enemy to take ground and eventually I had to take that ground back. I know it’s not always popular to talk about some of these things, but it’s true. I had to apologise to myself. I still struggle but I have learnt to love myself. I can still be comparing myself to others at times; we all do, but through counselling, reading the word of God, relationship with Him, prayer, and thanks to support I received, I learnt to renew my mind. Through that I learnt the joy of the everyday moments.

What are some of the habits that help you to keep going?

I’ve always loved exercise, but in the past, it was a mean of controlling myself. Now, I do it to be strong and healthy. Reading the word – I can’t encourage people enough to read the Bible; don’t give up when you struggle. Don’t think you are the only one that doesn’t always get it. It’s not there just to be read, but to be studied, grappled with etc.  

Thanksgiving is life changing – giving thanks to God and thanking people. Acknowledge the people in your life who you love, tell them how they make a difference. Don’t wait until they’re gone.

Being present. I’m speaking to you today – there’ll never be a day like this again. Acknowledge your feelings here and now. Even if you feel sad today, that’s okay. I love also having a chat with somebody at a bus stop or at the checkout; just saying hello, having a little joke. Those little moments can just spark joy us.

Listening to UCB is also great. I always wanted to use my voice so when I got baptised and committed myself to Christ, I realised I could finally use it to encourage others. That’s why I’m so passionate about UCB. Through the radio, people hear the truth, even if it’s only in the background, and build up their faith. God can do a lot in those small ‘insignificant’ moments. Not that big moments don’t count, but there’s a lot of importance in everyday choices, like what I’m listening to, what I’m reading etc.

 “Thanksgiving is life changing – giving thanks to God and thanking people. Acknowledge the people in your life who you love, tell them how they make a difference. Don’t wait until they’re gone.”

Helen Price

What do you do to practice being present in the moment?

To be clear, it’s very good to plan and I’m the queen of lists, but for too long I was living in regret, in the past, so I am learning to be here and now. Go for a walk, notice birds, go for a run and accept yourself, how you feel and who you are. Have some self-compassion. Say that you’re not feeling great today. Your car might’ve broken down, you might’ve lost someone you loved or anything else might be difficult right now. But do you know what? We can choose to trust God in those moment. That’s what for me means to choose joy – is it’s saying, ‘I’m struggling right now, but I will praise God’.

That’s the other side of joy – one less seen, when the circumstances don’t help us to be joyful.

Happiness is based on your happenings. Joy is a choice and it’s a gift we can receive through the Holy Spirit. Look up and look out rather than in and down.

I struggled the past week. The mundane Tuesday felt dry and empty. I felt I wasn’t being a good enough Christian, wasn’t reading the Bible enough. When I started spiralling down, I felt God saying to stop, go back to what I’ve already learned. That’s why I’m now reading Romans 5:3-4: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”

I don’t want to take the Bible out of context, but there are verses, nuggets of truth that you read, and they change your life. For me a verse like that is James 1:2-4: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” That is mind-blowingly countercultural. No one wants to choose joy when they’re going through a trial. I realised we have a choice how to respond to our circumstances. That has changed my life.

I’m realising that giving anything to the Lord helps me move forward each day. When I struggle, I go back to God. The joy of Jesus is that He’s there always. My brother told me this: you attack the day before it attacks you. And that means choosing to trust God.

Thank you.