Singer provides powerful message at La Croix

Poverty. Loss. Hatred. Depression. Atheism. Thoughts of suicide. Victory! One of these words doesn't belong or doesn't seem to belong, but it demonstrates how a life of heartache can become a life of hope when Christ becomes the center of it. This is Lacey Sturm's testimony. The former frontwoman of the alternative rock band Flyleaf shared that powerful testimony with La Croix Church in Cape Girardeau recently.

In her early days, Sturm was not exactly the kind of person one would expect to be speaking in a church, but on August 28, she encouraged the attendees with her personal story. Hers is a story filled with ups and downs, one that could have ended tragically. In fact, she was close to suicide when a visit to church changed everything, not that she wanted to go; her grandmother forced her.

Prior to that, not much hope emanated from Sturm's life. Struggle began even before she was born, with doctors encouraging her 16-year-old mother to have an abortion due to complications. Then she and her mother almost died during delivery. Things didn't get much better from there. By the age of 10, she had already witnessed loved ones being abused and murdered. That would weigh on any child, and Sturm was no exception.

"I stopped believing in God," she said. She felt an "obligation" to stay sad -- and she did, surrounding herself with others who were sad, as well. "If you were happy, I didn't trust you," she said. "I only hung out with people who were like me."

It comes as no surprise that this kind of mindset leads to poor decisions, and because she did not believe in God, Sturm would cling to others "like they were God." It took years before she realized that "only God is God enough to be God to you."

That revelation transformed her life. She now shares how she went from hating church and Christians and looking for reasons to end her life to using her life story to help others. She went from saying goodbye to a few people at 16, determined to commit suicide, to unexpectedly finding her grandmother at home, who took her to church. She wasn't happy there at first, but before she left, God's love melted her heart, and she "suddenly believed God to be real and loving."

What a story of grace, mercy and transformation. We know that many people can relate to Sturm's story -- feeling like no one cares, and asking, "Why bother?" Thank God for the Lacey Sturms in the world, who can reach people and let them know from experience that they need not give up, that they're worth the "bother" and that there is God who loves them and has a future for them.