Deidrie was brought up in a devout Roman Catholic household, went to Church on Sunday and attended convent school from the age of 4. Religion meant the fear of God and sticking to all the rules and laws. She left school and got a job as a secretary in a theatrical agency in the west end aged 19. It was a glamorous world having contact with lots of stars but sometime just after her 21st birthday she decided to say goodbye to God as she could not keep doing things to please him.
She moved on to work in films, it was exciting and she loved it. When she was 25 and desperate to get married she went to a medium at the suggestion of a friend. The medium was a very sweet woman and told her exactly where she had been the day before in exceptional detail. She told Deidrie that she would receive a phone call in September offering her a job which she should take as it would be her destiny. She would also get married. She did get a phone call in September offering her a job with Granada TV on very good wages. She was very happy mixing with bright Oxbridge graduates and used to read up on philosophers to keep in with the conversation.
The following year she met David at a lunch party and he asked her if she had heard of the philosopher Wittgenstein which she had, as she had just read up on him. They shared a mutual love of music, Janis Joplin, the Doors and the Stones. David was very straight, had won a scholarship to Oxford and was a chartered accountant. They were married in 1970, David had inherited some money and they bought a house in Westminster and he then got a job with The Sunday times. Deidrie was so happy with the man she adored, a wonderful house, trendy friends, money and lots of travelling.
They then started to have Tarot sessions in the house and became fascinated with astrology. Soon after things started to go wrong, both started to drink heavily. In the 1972 property boom they sold their house and bought a bigger one but by 1973 Deidrie went to a clinic to be dried out but soon became depressed. In 1974 she had a baby Lucy, it was wonderful at first but the depression kept coming back and over the next 7-8 years she was in and out of clinics, not able to work or look after the home. David was also in a state because they had lost money in the property crash and Deidrie could not cope with not having any money. She was on a lot of psychotropic medication which made her shake. Having sold their house in 1977 she stopped taking her medication and felt well for about a year until they moved to Earls Court in 1979 when she fell ill again, she felt really mad and spent a lot of time in clinics having sleep therapy.
In desperation David remembered that we knew a Christian girl in Suffolk and thought he would ask her for some help. In 1980 they both went to stay with her and she was shocked to see what a state Deidrie was in. She offered to pray and fast for Deidrie, who was touched that somebody would give up food for her. She advised that they go and see Richard and Joyce Connor. Deidrie spent three hours telling them her story at the end of which Joyce said "Poor David" which made Deidrie furious. Richard then said "We are going to open the bible and I’m going to ask you if you would like Jesus to come into your life". Deidrie had never heard anything like this before and was astonished when David said yes. They turned and asked Deidrie the same but said "I’m not going to do that because you will send me back to the Catholic church, I can’t do all those laws" David from then on became a committed Christian.
Three weeks later somebody rang from Holy Trinity Church Brompton inviting them to a Home group and bible study. Deidrie thought that they were all mad but she honestly wanted to seek God as nothing else had helped her. In 1981 Deidrie became pregnant and lost the baby at 4 ½ months, afterwards she was absolutely desperate and cried out to God. At that moment she had the most powerful manifestation of the Holy spirit. Love came down into her life and she realised that Jesus had died for her. She fell in love with Jesus and immediately surrendered her life to him.
There were things she had to give up, her obsession with her makeup, hair and jewelry not to mention the 60 cigarettes she smoked each day. She then phoned Serena Campbell Lambert the girl from Suffolk and talked and talked and talked, for a week she walked around with the love of Jesus, she was very well. Then a setback like a war going on inside her head ensued and she remembered some scripture she had learnt from the home group. She spoke out against the enemy and after four days of turmoil Deirdrie became calm. She then went to Holy Trinity Brompton for some healing. The curate there rebuked the power of darkness in her and she became very peaceful. Then the Lord audibly spoke to her saying she was cured of alcoholism and mental illness, the outward sign of which would be her giving up cigarettes "Lord if I gave up for two hours it would be a miracle" she said but went home realising that she no longer craved for a cigarette.
That evening a girlfriend came for dinner and was amazed along with David that she did not want a cigarette and did not need any more than two glasses of wine. There were no withdrawal symptoms and she was filled with a joy that superseded her depression and her dark cottage immediately became the joy of her life. She thought that to stay well she would need to seek God with all her heart. This she has done in the 14 years since which has been much more exciting and challenging than all the champagne and jobs that she had enjoyed in the media world
Summary and references from Life Change by Mark Elsden Dew