Under His Wings of Hope: A Spiritual Adventure with Christ

Copyright © 2017 Annah Frances Emuge.

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Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-8320-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8321-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8319-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017905825

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/17/2017

Dedication

I dedicate this book to James Emuge, a brother in Christ, my husband, the father of my children, and a protective friend who watched over me like a big brother would. Throughout the years we had together, James was an inspiration to me, through good days and not-so-good days. May you rest in peace, dear James.

To my four children, Gilbert, Roselind, Diana, and Brian, I want to thank you for letting me be your Mom. I am so proud that you have all grown into wonderful, loving young adults, each of you making your own way in the world and having a positive impact on those around you. I love each of you. And now that you’re all grown, I have the opportunity to explore and find my own way along the path that God created for me before time began.

To my grandchildren, Elijah and Izaiah, you are my heart’s joy. You are true blessings I have received from God. You shine so brightly, and you complete my life.

Epigraph

I n my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was ‘Help me.’ Sometimes a prayer was ‘Thank you.’ What I’ve discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help, is just a prayer away. –Iyanla Vanzant

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1: Life in Uganda

Chapter 1 - Life in Agu Village

Chapter 2 - Jesus, the Bearer of Good News

Chapter 3 - Falling in Love with Jesus

Chapter 4 - The Great Commission

Chapter 5 - God Keeps His Promises

Chapter 6 - The Healer Showed Up at My House

Chapter 7 - Angels Showed Up at the Widow’s House

Part 2: Life in the United States of America

Chapter 8 - Promises Fulfilled

Chapter 9 - Warning About the War

Chapter 10 - I Questioned God

Chapter 11 - A Special Gift from God

Chapter 12 - A Church for My People

Chapter 13 - Jesus in the Sky

Chapter 14 - My Prayer Answered

Epilogue

Preface

Under His Wings of Hope is filled with stories of my personal journey. I grew up in an impoverished village in Uganda under the rule of President Milton Obote and Dictator Idi Amin Dada. During those days, the uncertainty of life was foremost in everyone’s minds. None of us knew if we would see tomorrow because of the brutality we witnessed every day.

I met Jesus when I was a young girl while away at boarding school. Through the years, I developed a personal relationship with Him, learning to trust Him through many struggles and heartaches. There were many days when I thought I would not have the strength to go on about my life. But Jesus continued to help me find courage and endurance to pull through the hard times.

Over the years I have learned that hope wrapped with faith brings victory. When you build unwavering faith into your day-to-day life, you will find that nothing is impossible as long as you keep Jesus at the center of your life. Today, as you read my stories, you will see that even though I have faced many severe hardships throughout my life, I have also received God’s favor beyond measure.

I want you to be encouraged as you read my stories. My hope is that when you read this book, it will awaken within you a strong desire to welcome Jesus into your life and pursue a closer relationship with Him. I hope that your mind will be open to the possibilities before you as you build your personal relationship with Jesus. As your faith in the Lord grows and develops, I pray that you find your way down the path that Jesus has prepared just for you. He truly has a plan for every one of us. All you have to do is listen, pay attention, trust, and have faith that the plan Jesus has worked out for you is the one, true path that will lead you to great joy and fulfillment.

Acknowledgements

My most grateful thanks to my God, my Father and Creator, for giving me strength and for showing me the way. You guided me through all the hard times and into all the good times. You were there with me then, and You continue with me now—through the journeys I have had and the journeys yet to come. Without You, I am nothing. Through You, I have learned about hope and faith, and I have discovered the worth of holding these virtues in my heart.

I also want to thank You, Father, for bringing Lesa Overhoff into my life. Lesa has helped me bring my stories to life by spending many, many hours with me, reading my words, strengthening my written thoughts, editing and revising my manuscript chapter by chapter, line by line, and listening to what I had to say and helping me find the best words to tell my stories. Thanks to Lesa’s husband, Chris Weber, for loaning Lesa to me for countless hours as we put this book together.

Thanks to Jody Amato, who also provided an edit of my manuscript.

I thank my dear friend Angela Leiber, who was the first person to graciously take time from her busy schedule to read my manuscript and provide feedback. Thanks also to Carol Steinbach for taking time to read my manuscript.

Thanks to Chris Varquez, my Check-In Coordinator with WestBow Press, for guiding me through the manuscript submission process. Thanks also to my Publishing Services Associate, Adam Tinsley, my marketing Associate, Zak Helewa and the rest of the staff at WestBow Press.

Introduction

Annah Emuge’s young life was filled with many challenges as she grew up under the regimes of Ugandan President Milton Obote and Dictator Idi Amin Dada through the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s.

When Annah attended secondary school, a whole new world of ideas opened up before her: Annah had the privilege of holding a Holy Bible in her own hands for the first time in her life. As she perused the Scriptures, she realized that the stories in the Bible provided answers to many situations she was dealing with on a daily basis. But she still didn’t realize just how much her life was affected by Jesus or that she could have a personal relationship with Him.

When Annah went away to boarding school, she found even more opportunities to learn about Jesus. As her knowledge of the Lord grew, so did her faith. As her faith increased, she discovered hope—a hope that led her to believe that she could accomplish great things if she would keep her mind focused on the gifts that Jesus had for her.

Through the years, Jesus presented Himself to Annah on several occasions, each visit leading her through another adventure of growth in character and faith. Annah learned that even though she faced many hardships in her young life, there was always something better waiting for her when she trusted in Jesus to deliver her from troubles. Annah became a valuable member of the communities she lived in, whether she was teaching her family and her village about her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ or helping spread the Good News to friends and neighbors alongside her husband, James.

Annah hopes to enlighten others through her stories of hardship, faith, and hope. Her victories are hers because she trusted that Jesus would carry her through the rough times. She knows what the Lord can do for those who have faith, and she wants to share her knowledge and her faith with the world in hopes of encouraging those who feel there is no point in going on when they face their darkest days.

Chapter 1

Life in Agu Village

Growing up in a poor village in Uganda was—and still is—a very difficult life, every day filled with exhausting physical labor and a certain degree of danger. We were in a constant struggle just to survive. But at the same time, life in a peasant village was, out of necessity, a very simple life. Growing up in my little village of Agu made me a strong, resourceful woman, full of faith in my Lord. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade a single day of my life in Uganda, knowing that all the trials I faced there truly shaped the woman I am today.

Uganda is on the equator, so it has two major seasons each year—the rainy season and the dry season. The dry season (similar to summer in the United States) starts in October and lasts through February, and it’s generally very hot and very dry, especially toward the north where my family home is. The rainy season starts somewhere between late February and early March. Sometimes the start and end of these seasons will vary from year to year, especially when there is a drought. While I was growing up, I spent most of those long, hot, summer days helping my mother with the daily chores. I enjoyed working with my mother and sisters while I was on break from school.

I loved working in the fields, but because of the heat and drought, we didn’t grow many crops during the summer. We were able to grow cassava, sorghum, and sweet potatoes—all crops that were resistant to the extreme heat and drought. I thought these foods were delicious, so I didn’t mind helping with the harvest.

And I was happy to help with the other everyday chores of cooking, cleaning, and collecting firewood. But I didn’t like fetching water during the hot season, because the drought made it hard to find water. My sisters and I would walk for miles each day, just hoping to find small pools of water in the dried-up riverbeds. At the end of the hot season, after the harvest, we would prep the fields by clearing away old, unwanted crops to make way for the new ones; we would finish the prep before I went back to school in February and before the rainy season started in March.

Throughout my schooling, I always enjoyed spending the summers with my family. But one particular summer, I was very anxious because I had not yet been admitted to any of the Catholic high schools I had applied to for the upcoming year. I especially wanted to be accepted to Kangole Girls Senior Secondary School. And I didn’t want to go back to Erimu’s College, which I had attended the year before; Erimu was a good day school for both girls and boys—but it was not a Catholic school. Kangole, on the other hand, was an all-girl Catholic school run by nuns. I had spent most of my elementary school years in Catholic schools, and during my time at Erimu’s, I missed the atmosphere and routines of an all-girl Catholic school.

It was the summer of 1978—just before Christmas—when I finally learned that I had been accepted to transfer from Erimu’s College to Kangole Girls Senior Secondary School. Kangole School was located in Kangole County in the Karamoja district; Karamoja is northeast of my home district, Teso, and it’s about 125 miles from my village, Agu.

When I shared the news of my transfer to Kangole Secondary School with my family, they were as excited as I was. We all knew that Kangole was going to be a wonderful new adventure in my life, but we were all a little sad too. We knew the distance of 125 miles meant we would not be able to see each other often.

While I was extremely happy to be going away to school, I was unhappy that my family would not be able to visit me. At the time, it was uncommon for parents to visit their children at school—especially in secondary boarding schools—because of the distance. My family didn’t have a car or extra money for bus tickets, and I would only be able to come home at the semester breaks—for about three weeks after every four months of school. Thoughts of missing my family filled my mind.

Late in January, my mother and I began preparing for my journey to Kangole. Mommy bought me a new mattress, a set of bed sheets, and a blanket. She also roasted some groundnuts (peanuts) for me to take for snacks. As we gathered all my supplies, I thought about the many reasons I wanted to go to Kangole.

First, I was looking forward to returning to the Catholic school environment. When I had been at Okoboi Girls Primary School prior to going to Erimu, it was customary to build friendships with lots of girls. We had a friendly competition in which the girls with the most friends were highly respected and, therefore, the most admired girls in school. Also, having many girlfriends meant having many secrets to share.

I always had so much fun with my friends. Almost every day we wrote special, secret notes to each other, and we had to be sneaky so the nuns would not catch us. I thought it was really fun being sneaky, just for the thrill of hiding our notes from the teachers and not getting caught. If we got caught, we were punished. The nuns would not let us have recess or sing in the junior church choir; instead, they would send us to the school garden to pull weeds.

Choir was another activity I missed while I was away from the Catholic school system. I loved singing in the all-girl junior church choir every Sunday. At Erimu, we didn’t have a choir, so there was no practice on Friday afternoons, and we didn’t get to sing in church on Sundays. I really missed being part of a choir because I loved to sing. I found joy in singing; it is a wonderful way to reach out to God. He was—and still is—the most important part of my life.

Second, I was happy to be going away to school. This would be my first time in a boarding school far from my village. I thought it was time for me to hang out with girls my age—without my mom and dad