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Stories of Changed Lives |
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 Luganda
Luganda belongs in the Inland Northwest. She was born in Spokane and has spent most of her life here. But until recently, Luganda didn't have a firm idea of what life was all about. Even still, God had a plan for her.
Luganda spent her childhood moving back and forth between her mother and grandmother in Montana. Her solid foundation, she claims, can be traced back to her grandmother: "She did all she could to teach me the ways of God and introduced me to church and Jesus," she fondly recalls. When she was a teenager, Luganda's mother died of cancer and she found herself back in Spokane living with her aunt.
Luganda began to doubt that there was any God at all, that she herself was the center of the universe. And if that was the case, then life ought to go just how she wanted it. "I lived for the nightlife," she recounts, "the hip fashions, the best quality alcohol/drugs, the music scenes, and false perceptions of elitist coolness, due to whoever was seemingly hip enough to be associated with."
During this time, Luganda met the man who would become her husband. "Though we didn't know it at the time," she remembers, smiling, "we truly believe that God has brought us together to be one." After living together for several years, the couple decided to have a baby. "My child opened my eyes up to a much bigger world than I had ever known; a world that did indeed not revolve around just me and Levi. I never knew that love could grow deeper and fuller. And when I looked into the face of my precious innocent baby, I found myself beginning to question for the first time since before my mother died, if there might just maybe be someone out there that made all of this possible."
Three years later, she found herself back in Montana at her grandmother's house, a second child newly born, her aunt tragically killed in a car accident, and a mysterious disease threatening to take her life. Around her neck was a necklace her mother had worn. Luganda was at a breaking point.
"During this time I had happened to reach up and feel the cross necklace I had put on days before. I had forgot I was even wearing it, but at that moment I remembered the prayers my grandmother used to say with me as a small child and I began to turn my heartfelt rants and cries into prayer. I pleaded with God to show himself to me if he was real. I told him that I was lost, scared and confused and that I had no idea what to do think or feel. During this prayer, I happened to look over to the nightstand beside the bed and saw a Bible upon it. I had tried a small handful of times to read the Bible many years before but it just always seemed like jibberish to me. I had always felt like I was trying to read another language. But this time, when I opened it up and began to read, the words came to life and not all but most of what I was reading was speaking volumes. The more I read, the more I could feel God's presence. My tears of sadness and confusion turned to tears of relief and as this relief washed over me I felt the urge to get down from the bed onto my knees. I told God that I had greatly sinned against him in so many ways for so many years. I told him I was so very sorry and needed him to forgive me and come into my heart and life. I told him I needed him to lead me in this crazy world. I just could not and did not want to try it without him anymore. The peace which surpasses all understanding began to flood my entire being."
Luganda didn't do anything magical to have this experience. In fact, all Luganda did was open her heart to the God who had been there all along. Some of us wait until a time of crisis for this to happen. But God is there for us all the time, waiting for us to open our hearts, read his word, and begin following him with whole-hearted devotion.
Today, Luganda and her husband Levi still live in Spokane, where they raise their two daughters together and do their best to follow God's plan for their lives.
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 Lonnie
Lonnie was raised by Christian parents in Louisiana. But Lonnie didn't have much interest in God growing up. He didn't have a particularly rough childhood and didn't get himself into much trouble. But Lonnie was determined to do things his own way and didn't need God looking after him. At least, that's what he thought.
After high school, he moved to Seattle just to see where it would take him. He eventually joined the military. Looking back, Lonnie believes that God was already working in his life. "While friends of mine were strung out on drugs or finding themselves in jail, I mostly kept out of trouble. The Lord certainly had his hand of protection on me."
But when Lonnie was twenty-eight, his life began to change. His brother was diagnosed with cancer, which eventually took his life. His wife asked for a divorce. Many of the blessings Lonnie had taken for granted were disappearing. In his darkest moment, after having to move out of his house, with all of his friends deserting him, Lonnie picked up the Bible. "I just picked up the Word and started reading it. To this day I can't even tell you how the sixth Psalm ministered to me." Here are the words of Psalm 6 that comforted Lonnie in his desperate time:
O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?
Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave [b] ?
I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.
The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
If you would like to read more from the book of Psalms, go to Biblegateway.com and type Psalm 22 into the search box.
That night, Lonnie became hooked on the power of God's word-the Bible. In the Bible, we find the great story of God's interaction with humanity. It's a story that tells us about a way to live that is full and true-the life we were created to live. Reading the Bible became as important to him as food or water.
Today, Lonnie still believes in the power of God's word. As the pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Spokane, Lonnie wants to see God's Word get into the hearts of people and come out in every part of their life. Lonnie's journey into God's Word started by opening it and reading. It's the same place we all start.
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