Praise God.
Thank you Rev for hosting me, my name is Gloria Nduhukire and I come from Kiguma in Burnga Rushameitu.NI am a daughter to Mr. & Mrs. Nuwagira James Ruhangura.
Our parish church is Burunga archdeaconry in North Ankole diocese. It is not easy for a person to talk about themselves but with God’s guidance, I know I will be able to do it because I am testifying to God. I will talk about my life in church service, my life in the journey of salvation and my life while growing up.
I am the first born in my family and that is something I value so much because being the first child, I was showered with too much love. My father is a very upright person and a perfectionist who would punish us whenever we did wrong. That helped me to always want to be perfect in whatever I did because that is what my father instilled in me. That created fear in me and I have lived with it. However, that fear in me helps me to do things perfectly. You want to do it the way your parent would have loved it.
That also helped me to grow up as a very obedient girl and I won a number of awards in schools because of good behaviour and performance in class. I was always praised by my fellow students and those are the fruits of obedience. I have favour because of always doing the right thing and I performed well in my academics. And by God’s grace, I am a professional teacher. My parents did not have so much property so my testimony is mainly based on blessings and the grace of God.
In brief, I am proud to say that I was so blessed compared to my siblings because God’s grace was upon me during my education journey. It was not by my might or that of my parents. I take that as very important.
I went to Burunga Primary school since it was in my home area and the fact that my parents could not afford taking me to more expensive schools because of lack of funds. Then I later joined Kinoni in Nyabushozi. The school was called Nazareth High School owned by brother Byaruhanga. I studied there up to Senior 6. However when I completed Senior 4, my parents could not afford to continue paying for my school fees but because of being obedient and with good behaviour, the school director offered me a bursary for A-Level. I was among the pioneers of A-Level in that school.
There are students who performed better than me in the U.C.E final exams in our year but I strongly believe that I got the bursary because of my good behaviour. So I completed Senior 6 without any school fees challenges. But as you know, the devil doesn’t want any child of God to be righteous so I started living a life of disobedience. I went to Mubende National Teachers’ college and did a diploma in education as a Secondary School teacher. The devil put me off the path of righteousness. Whenever I am giving my testimony, I always mention how I regret that incidence though I have been made to calm down and let go because when we become saved, God puts our sins away as far as east is from west.
Praise God. When I went to Mubende, I found myself in a foreign land full of the Baganda people, I am sorry if I have offended anyone. I still had fear in me and then going there was also not easy at all but by the grace, I was well received and taken care of by a number people. I was not on government sponsorship but on supplementary sponsorship. I thought I would find a problem with the people in Mubende since they were not from my region but to my surprise, they were very good to me and I had a good time there. However I forgot all about the principles that my father had instilled in me and I joined the bandwagon of those who were into worldly desires. My father had told us that when he completed Primary 7, he had been admitted to Mbarara high school but his parents could not afford to pay his school fees so he dropped out of school.
He used to perform well in class and loved studying. His mother knows how to read the bible and can write her name. That motivated me to study harder so that I could bridge the gap by my father for not being able to study and give them whatever they were not able to achieve. Unfortunately when I reached at Mubende National Teachers’ college, I threw to the winds my goals and all that was motivating me. Instead, I engaged myself in wrong practices which I thought were good. I started sleeping around. I must confess that promiscuity was in my bloodline. And so, when I became born again, I took Paul’s message to the Galatians very seriously because it made me focus well on life.
There came a man who had promised to marry me and as you know, the devil made seem it like it was the right thing to do. He became my boyfriend and I was his girlfriend; it never even occurred to me that I had to follow the proper stages of marriage where he had to go to my parents and ask for my hand in marriage. I engaged in acts of promiscuity and became disobedient, throwing away the culture of marrying the right way. Meanwhile on the outside, I was always seen as this very obedient girl and no one would imagine that I would do such a thing. Whenever I thought about my parents and I imagined what I was doing behind their back, I felt like dying. Even before I went to Mubende, I always wanted to serve in the church. So when I left Mubende, I went back to Kinoni and the people there thought I was still that obedient and well-behaved girl they always knew.
Ever since I qualified to become a teacher, I have never taught in any other school except in Nazareth Primary school where I also studied. When I completed my course at Mubende, the headteacher of that school offered me a job right away. I never searched for a job and that was because of my good behaviours. I was lucky because the church in Kinoni was near the school where I used to teach so I began serving in the church as the center guide of the Compassion group dealing with children. I did it every Saturday. I worked hand in hand with those heading the Compassion group and I did it perfectly well. However, when they realized that I loved children as well as serving in the church, they gave me another obligation of teaching the Sunday school. Reverend Canon Edward Namanya and the other church committee agreed that I should take on that duty.
From 2014, I carried out well those 3 duties of teaching at Nazareth school, working with the Compassion group and teaching in the Sunday school. Why am I telling you all this? It is because I used to teach children and serve in the church yet I had this hidden sin that I had committed but had not repented of it. On the eve of the night when I was leaving Mubende, the always merciful God, once again had mercy on me because can you imagine I got a call from some lady who warned me to leave her man alone. Being an obedient girl and as much as I had committed a sin, I only wanted to be with one man who would end up marrying me.
I had once warned that boy that if he ever messed up, that would be the end of our relationship. So, when I got that call, I felt betrayed because I thought he was an honest person. I got my phone, called him and ended the relationship. However, I never came out in church to repent of that sin of fornication. I became so desperate and the devil made me think that after all there were many other men out there whom I could sleep with in exchange for money. Exactly, you either chose to seduce them and got money from them or even went ahead and slept with them; imagine such a lifestyle!
I felt the zeal to go ahead and do exactly that but the Lord had mercy on me because I heard His voice stopping me from doing it and on top that I was scared of contracting the deadly killer disease, AIDS. I stood in the presence of God but never repented of my sins and that created another sin of defiance. I always heard the Lord’s voice cautioning me to repent of my sins but I remained adamant. Imagine I would speak to the children and advise them to do right yet I could not repent of my sins! I tried so much to deal with the guilt in me and as you know most times people who live in fear do not easily disclose what is on their mind.
The devil would put me in a state where I could feel ashamed of giving my testimony and never to repent of my sins. After all I had broken up with the man so there was no reason for me to repent of what I had done with him. I used to go to church every Sunday as if everything was okay yet I had something hidden in me. I would like to thank our reverend and the church committee in charge of the youth, who had organized a youth conference in which I gave my life to Christ. I used to hear about that conference but I never took it seriously. I had taken children of Compassion to attend the conference and so I listened to the sermon but on the first day, I was still stuck with my secret so I never came out to confess salvation.
I would feel convicted but I did not have the courage to come out. And remember for a period of about 1 year, I had been praying and fasting to God to give me the strength so that I could come out and confess salvation. I hated pretense and personally, I disliked being something else on the outside and another on the inside. I was living a miserable life.
One time, a brethren asked me whether I was born again basing on the fact that I had dreadlocks in my hair and I used to wear a lot of jewellery. Another person mentioned that maybe I was born again but still had an inappropriate hairstyle. So when I confessed salvation, God gave me the courage to cut off the dreadlocks and now, this is my new look. I never pierced my ears because my father disliked it so I used to wear clip-ons which would actually hurt so much and I wondered why I had to go through all that pain. Basically, I used to have so much desire for worldly things. But on the 10th of January 2019, I accepted Christ as my saviour and I recall on that particular day that I was able to forget about the guilt I had in me of the sins I had committed.
I was overjoyed and felt a heavy burden lifted off my shoulders. Imagine from 2015 to 2019, listening to the Lord’s voice asking me to repent of my sins and I couldn’t! I was living in denial because on the outside I looked like someone who was happy yet on the inside, I was hurting so much. During that conference, Rev. Livingstone Nabassa of Kyankwanzi, spoke about the sins committed by the human flesh and how it could have been passed on from generations within the family. I realized that for close to 4 years, I was trying to save myself from the sins I had committed with my body in vain. I was abstaining from sex but I still failed to save myself by coming out to testify and repent of what I had done in the past.
No one had an idea that I had been in a sexual relationship except the man whom I was involved with and the Lord who knew that I had sinned. The sermon was so powerful and it felt like I had been rained on. I stood up, repented of all my sins and confessed salvation. They prayed for us and I felt relieved.
Praise God. As you know, the devil is always in our midst so I was skeptical on how I would talk about my sin of promiscuity if I was to give a testimony. When I reached home, I called a friend of mine and I told her that I had become born again. Two days later, she called and said that she had actually seen me on NBS television. But the devil still appeared to me and started mocking me about how everybody now knew that I had fornicated. That scared me because I did not expect it to appear on national TV. So, the devil kept mocking me so that I could fail to get the courage of giving my testimony.
In the book of Revelations, it is written that the devil was overcome by the word of their testimonies. So I started praying to God to give me the courage to be able to give my testimony which would help others who were like me to also receive salvation. I was following the righteous path during my lower level of education but unfortunately, I messed up when I reached the university level. I strongly believe that there are many young girls and boys who are unknowingly disobedient because the devil attacks us at all levels. The devil is always standing in our way of prosperity. I became born again during that conference and when I told my father about it, he became so angry with me because he loved and trusted me so much. In fact, he hanged up the phone on me.
Once again, the devil laughed at me because of what had happened but on the other hand, I could also hear a voice tell me that those who trust in the Lord, shall always overcome. I decided to lay low and a week later, my father called me and was sorry for judging me at a time when I had actually made the right decision of accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and saviour. Deep down in my heart, I was feeling so bad for disappointing my parents and my teachers by fornicating yet they had raised and taught me well. I had so much guilt in me. The Lord had mercy on me because He forgave my sins and put me on the right path of salvation.
By His grace, I got study scholarships and thinking about all that felt like I was being rained on. It is by His grace that I am who I am now. Let us go back a bit on your educational background. When you completed your diploma at Mubende, Becoming a teacher was not my dream profession, I wanted to become a medical doctor but it did not happen because of lack of funds. I prayed to God to enable me pursue a bachelor’s degree after my diploma in education and guess what, some people came and told me that there were scholarships at KIU. I was overjoyed because of the good news since I was not in position to pay for myself given the fact that I was earning very little money as a teacher at a diploma level.
At the same time, I was also taking care of my siblings. I decided to use the opportunity of the scholarship because it is what I had asked God for. You have no idea how much money I was topping up in addition to the scholarship! We had to form groups of 3 in order to benefit from the scholarships so each one of us would contribute Ugx. 400,000 which used to take care of everything plus transport. That way I was able to pursue and complete my bachelor’s degree in education. When that opportunity of the scholarship for the bachelor’s came up, I was not yet born again but then it was because the Lord’s grace was always upon me and always did miracles for me despite the fact that I was a sinner.
So my journey of salvation began in 2019. The Lord’s grace was upon me all the way from Kinoni to where I am right now and I am so grateful to the brethren of Kinoni church. It is the Kinoni archdeaconry that recommended me to this place at Uganda Christian University. I was not recommended by the church from my home area Burunga but instead, I was recommended by that of Kinoni whose members were like parents to me and loved me so much. Even now that I am here, they still take care of me in all ways be it financially and it is all because I was very obedient despite being a sinner behind their backs. I always respected my elders and, in the end, they were all like parents to me. The Lord’s arm was never too short to save you as well as His grace.
I told you that I love children so much and I believe it is one of the main reasons I am here. It is not because my parents are well known or because I am a good-looking woman but because I serve the children. I serve both the church and the children. Children are one of the strong pillars of the church and so they should be taught and nurtured well. There is one member of the church in Kinoni who thanked me for standing strong in faith and I told her that it was because of them that we also became born again. Imagine committing a sin, then coming to church and pretending to be convicted by the holy spirit when you have not repented of your sin. I would like to advise parents to always take their children to church because the world is in a mess these days. The devil is targeting the young generation because of their innocence and therefore they can easily adapt to anything.
Make sure to always take your child to church because that is the only place where they will be taught to do what is right. It is written in Proverbs 22:6 that; “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Many students lose focus when they go to the university. I am a very good example; I was very pure until I joined university and I totally lost it to loose living. I hated myself for that. Please be careful and remain focused all the way because God has a better plan for you. I remember when I was still a young girl in church school, they used to preach to us about obedience which was depicted from Isaiah 1:19 “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land.” That contributed a lot in moulding me into an obedient person while growing up.
It continues to say in Isaiah 1:20; “but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” And since I have always had this fear in, I couldn’t imagine being devoured by a sword because they used to demonstrate to us how the sharp sword would split us apart. So I would like to tell our dear viewers that when you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land because I personally, I am eating those good things. I have been blessed with 2 different educational scholarships from the international community and I do not even know the people behind them. When I was accepted at the theological college-Mukono, I was worried because of the tuition fees that would be demanded but I thank God for His grace because I got scholarships. I had to study scholarships and enough money for facilitation as well as money that I get from well-wishers.
I emplore you to accept the Lord as your Saviour, because the Lord has good plans for each one of us. I also encourage the girls to give their testimony because it is a fruit of salvation. Here I am telling whoever cares to listen how I survived my life with sexual relationships.
Praise God.
