I have bruises on my knees, a cut on my foot, my clothes are all dirty, and I am sore all over because I was thrown down multiple times as I acted out my favorite skit with my team. I’ve never acted in a play or skit, especially in front of hundreds of people. Yet I did this skit three times in one day in Arua, Uganda for the youth. I had real tears coming down my face while performing, because it was a representation of my own life before I was free.
Please watch this skit called ‘EVERYTHING’. It portrays a woman (me) who experiences life’s temporary satisfaction, heartbreak, rejection, confusion, depression, and eventually FREEDOM. After watching this video, I will explain my personal testimony and how this skit relates to me.
This is the video:
Thank you for watching it!
It was a dream come true to do this skit. I believe I was able to emotionally relate to this character because a lot of what she went through is my personal testimony. I watched the original skit on YouTube back in 2010, and seeing how God really saves people from painful situations had always given me immense hope. I used to always cry every time I watched it on YouTube, then I had the reality of experiencing His freedom for real in my own life.
Let me share a summary of my real life testimony/story:
Growing up as a child, I knew of God but I didn’t really know Him. After hardships of parents divorcing, being bullied, and so much confusion. I became a teenager who used to follow my friends by drinking alcohol, doing drugs like marijuana, and even getting arrested because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know my worth, my identity or my boundaries. I ended up putting my identity into a boy who I loved, but who hurt me countless times by cheating on me. Again, I didn’t know my worth, my boundaries or my identity…I didn’t even know what real love was. So I still stayed with him. I may have ended that relationship after 6 years, and I may have “chose” Jesus to be my savior during that time, but I still didn’t trust God with my life. I ended up putting my identity into another guy who treated me way better. I thought this love was different and so thought he was the one I was going to marry. Yet for many reasons he too wasn’t the one for me. It hurt worse than the last breakup. I went to church, but I was still so lost. I didn’t know who I was without this guy. Everything I tried to do on my own didn’t work. I was in a toxic cycle of trying to control my life, and I ended up trying to control him and situations that were not in my power. It made things worse. Anxiety, confusion, depression and impulse decisions took over my life. God was there but I didn’t trust Him. In fact, I was angry with God. I got caught up in a depression and darkness for three years.
Alas, nothing made more sense than to learn to surrender to God, let Him be the leader of my life, and learn to trust Him in the midst of hardships.
Like the character I played in this skit, I essentially fell on my knees and prayed. I worshiped God through the hard times and through the process I learned God is a real good God. It wasn’t just hope anymore, I actually experienced God for real who provided healing and freedom in my life. I experienced His real love for me and sooooo many others around the world. I saw him working through many people, saving people through poverty, abandonment, rejection, heartbreaks evil and providing for so many.
So like the name of the skit, I’ve learned God is “all I want, all I need, everything to me.” I no longer feel like I need a man to be happy. I legit feel free from my past, and I just want to keep growing in intimacy with God.
I understand many people don’t believe in Jesus Christ, because He’s not conveniently obvious. But what’s cool about God, is that He is a gentlemen. He will never force His love on us. He loves us always, but He will provide for us with our consent. If we really want to know God for real, we have to seek Him with our whole heart. The Bible says: “Call upon me, pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will see me and find me when you search for me with your whole heart.” —Jeremiah 29:12-13.
It’s why when I went to church before, I didn’t experience Him. Just going to church alone won’t give you God. We can’t earn our way to Him. Church is just a place, but praying to Him with our whole heart, surrendering our all, and choosing Him everyday is a different story.
So when a few churches in Uganda asked our team to perform a skit for children, we decided to do this skit. Children in Uganda experience very similar hardships, but different.
Their lives are surrounded by the pressures of dropping out of school or not being able to pay for school fees, getting married at 14, having babies early, getting drunk, doing drugs through a chewing plant to runaway from those pressures and most committing suicide by hanging…Hence why the skit had chewing gum for drugs and a belt around my next to represent attempting suicide.
But there is hope, if God can save my life, He can save anyone. In fact, there are many leaders who bring Kingdom on Earth in Uganda by being God’s vessels and paving those opportunities to break those vicious cycles in the lives of the youth. I’ve listened to many miraculous stories. God is extremely present in this country.
So this skit is just another seed. I had the honor of playing the lead character, and the response from the youth was beautiful. Children cheered, and many had an emotional response. We were able to explain the skit, and I was even able to teach a sermon on how knowing your identity in Christ can empower you to use your boundaries. I was able to explain what boundaries are and how to use them. Boundaries is a topic I just learned how to use on the race. Leaders, teachers and pastors were encouraged and many children were inspired. This has been a great way to end my last two weeks of my world race experience. Please keep the youth in your prayers. There is still so much more to their stories that is left unwritten. There is living hope and true love. Hallelujah!
