Meet Gladness

Hi my name is Gladness and I grew up in a Christian household in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. My parents were both involved in church ministry. So church and God has always been a part of my life. Although it also caused me to rely on their faith a lot when I was younger.

 

Growing up I went to a Catholic school. It was a very strict environment with an emphasis very much placed on obeying the rules. My experiences with this went to the extreme. The idea of 'checklists' and doing everything right to be accepted, very much impacted my walk with Christ. It also resulted in me becoming very judgemental of others.

 

Fast forward a number of years and my older brother and I moved to the U.K. when he was 16 and I was 14. However, due to various plans failing and things not working out we ended up in foster care. Thankfully although it was all very different to what we knew, we were blessed to be placed in a good home and through that we found Life Church.

 

I can remember the first time we came here realising how different it was. I couldn’t quite pin point why at the time but it was intriguing. I then went on a journey between the ages of 14-16 of unlearning some things and realising my mindset on many things was wrong.

 

Something about Life Church that was very beautiful for me to watch was that sense of everyone coming together and a strong sense of fellowship. I also appreciated all the people who came around me to help support the journey of readdressing my ways of thinking about God and faith. It also helped me to see that people’s lives can be different to mine and still love God.

 

It was after this time that I really felt that I should re-dedicate my life to God and embrace my new relationship with Him. I now had a better understanding of God and my identity in Him and was able to throw off some of the old ‘religiosity’. But it was certainly still a journey to more freedom.

 

Then the start 2020 I had a word given to me that ‘if I keep my focus on God - He will direct my path’ and that’s really what happened over the next few years.

 

Then around 2020-2023 I came into a trying but necessary season which I like to call my ‘crossroads’ time. Where I needed to move to the next thing but struggled. However, ultimately it reached a point where the desire to please God became greater than any other feeling I had. Following making decisions and being more vulnerable with people around me I definitely became a lot more freer. And the burden I held onto for so long lifted. Which is what God had wanted for me from the very beginning.

 

I am so thankful for all the people who have walked alongside me and the family I have been adopted into. These days I often look back and reflect on my life up until now. And I am so thankful to the Lord for being with me at the very beginning, at every single moment of my life including the very hard years.