Slemish Mountain, Co. Antrim where St Patrick was said to look after his sheep. However,it is more likely to be Co.Mayo in the west of Ireland where Patrick was taken as a slave.Chapter 3
"The experience of those captured for the slave market would be anything but humane:Patrick recalls that he experienced "hunger", "nakedness", and "being near the point of collapse."He was sold and eventually found himself working for a sheep farmer where conditions, initially at least, may not have been much better.Whatever religion he had was of the nominal sort, but now his hopeless and desparate plight moved him to earnestly seek God. Alone in Ireland, with no help but the Holy Spirit and his memory of the gospel, he was wonderfully converted.
Up to that time he confessed "...I did not know the true God...," but "...lay in death and unbelief,"and "...took no thought for my salvation..." Then he said "The Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart that I might recall my sins and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God."
After his "faith began to grow" one immediate result for this new born believer was an urge to pray. He records that he lifted his heart to God while at his work "out in woods" or "on the mountainside" as many as "one hundred times a day." He would rise before dawn for prayer "...in snow and frost and rain, and felt no ill effect." Looking back, he attributes his health and energy at the time to "...the Spirit glowing in him."
The reality of that experience was woven into the remainder of his life. Near the end of his career, casting an eye back, he could say that from that time on "...the love of God and the fear of Him have grown in me and up to this day by the favour of God I have kept the faith." He never lost a sense of thankfulness to the Lord for what he often referred to as the "gift of God."
Up to that time he confessed "...I did not know the true God...," but "...lay in death and unbelief,"and "...took no thought for my salvation..." Then he said "The Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart that I might recall my sins and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God." After his "faith began to grow" one immediate result for this new born believer was an urge to pray. He records that he lifted his heart to God while at his work "out in woods" or "on the mountainside" as many as "one hundred times a day." He would rise before dawn for prayer "...in snow and frost and rain, and felt no ill effect." Looking back, he attributes his health and energy at the time to "...the Spirit glowing in him." The reality of that experience was woven into the remainder of his life. Near the end of his career, casting an eye back, he could say that from that time on "...the love of God and the fear of Him have grown in me and up to this day by the favour of God I have kept the faith." He never lost a sense of thankfulness to the Lord for what he often referred to as the "gift of God."
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