‘My Breakthrough Moment’: Lurine’s story 

From an early age, I loved the Lord and I loved music and singing. I had a major career as a backing singer for international artists, and the world I lived in looked really glamorous. But I would be attracted to all the wrong kinds of relationships, usually ones that were controlling and abusive, and I was beaten up and raped. I felt utterly broken beyond repair, and almost chose to end my own life. 

I decided that I couldn’t do the music scene anymore. I still loved the Lord, but I’m not sure I knew Him as my close friend. For years I had watched my mum pray and I tried to copy how she did it, but nothing seemed to work. It didn’t really feel like a deep-down connection with the God that my mum had faithfully served. In my brokenness, I cried out, ‘God, help me to be a true Christian.’ After praying that prayer, things slowly began to change. 

My godmother sent me a copy of the UCB Word For Today. It always seemed to have just the right word at just the right time, and one day it led to my ‘breakthrough moment’. The Scripture that day was taken from Jeremiah 29:11 and as I read those beautiful words, I could suddenly see how God saw me. He didn’t see me as rejected, helpless, and broken beyond repair. He saw me as His child. 

As I began to absorb this, it was like my chains suddenly fell off. The enemy wanted me to believe that I could never recover from all the abuse and brokenness, but God wanted me to know that I was His precious child and He could heal me.

My restoration took almost five years. It wasn’t a quick fix, but God brought so many people into my life who ministered to me, counselled me, and loved me. I got the sense that God was refining my character and preparing me for something new. I really felt it would be full-time ministry because I loved sharing my story with other broken women and seeing them being restored too.

I was still reading the UCB Word For Today every day, and that, combined with wisdom from trusted friends, led me to think about going back into the music industry. To be honest, I didn’t want to get back into that. I wanted to be in ministry, but I felt God say that He wanted me back in that world and that He was going to use me to ‘help set the captives free’.

In 2012, I released my first solo gospel single, ‘You Revive Me’, and I received a MOBO Award in 2013. Then in 2017, I became the lead singer for the B Positive Choir; we made it to the live semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent on ITV in 2018.

These days, I sing at lots of events, I’ve performed for the Royal family, and I also get to do vocal training for choirs across Europe. Sometimes I get asked for advice on how to sing with real feeling and emotion, which gives me a chance to tell them all about Jesus and my story.

I am so excited at what God has done so far in my life. There are many opportunities ahead of me and I am grateful that I get to live in the world, but because of what God has done in my life, I no longer have to be ‘of the world’. 

Discover more about Lurine, her music and her ministry at lurinecatomusic.com

You can read Lurine’s full story of transformation in UCB’s book i See: 10 Extraordinary Stories, 1 Extraordinary Vision. Order your free* copy at ucb.co.uk/isee

(*P&P charge applies)