I JUST REALIZED I WON THE LOTTERY! The Real Joy of Christian Life

Dr. John LaNoue • September 6, 2019

A poster for amigos mission in motion shows a girl holding a cup

Oh, not the one with millions of dollars, but the one with millions of blessings!

When I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and to save my soul, I really hit the jackpot!

Until then, I was a mess! My family life included three divorces, living in three states, five cities, and that was all before I finished my fourteenth year of life.

Like an old slot machine, my wheels were spinning!

Shortly after my sixteenth birthday, two laymen came to my home and led me to faith in Christ. As they left they said, “Second Corinthians 7:14 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, The old has gone, the new has come!”

At that moment, the wheels stop spinning and all three came up JESUS! He is the jackpot!!!

I began a deep dive into the Word of God! The sermons and Bible studies at church spoke to me as never before, I found godly friends who ended there dating and fellowship times with prayer.

I really believed that Jesus meant everything he said. I began to interpret my experiences by the Scripture, instead of trying to interpret the Scripture by my experiences!

A wonderful transformation began to occur! God began to transform my terrible life experiences from being wasted years into years of “in service training”!

A book titled divorcing remember me has a picture of two children holding hands — Click to purchase

God was preparing me to minister to people with broken hearts, broken homes, and broken lives.

A part my experience as a child of divorce helped me write the book “Divorcing? Remember Me.” The first part speaks to a child’s reaction to divorce and how it affects them.

The second part deals with biblical teachings on love, courtship, and marriage.

A black and white photo of a bride and groom on their wedding day

My wife and I were both from broken homes and had no good example of how a successful marriage worked. We decided , since God invented sex and marriage, we would search the Bible to find His directions for making our relationship and marriage work His way.

A man and woman are posing for a picture in front of a wreath.

We have been happily married 64 years and 38 weeks…so I think it is going to work!

That is a part of the jackpot’s contents!

There is more, much more!

Things that are beyond my ability to express adequately.

Things like inner peace, peace with God, with your life, and joy! A joy that remains strong through cancer, heart attack, strokes, bypass surgery, serving God in places where you face hate filled interrogators, while looking at the business end of an AK 47 assault rifle.

WOW! The joy not only remains, it has intensified!

I hit the Jackpot with Jesus!

If the pot was only filled with money or “things”, I could not take it with me. You never see a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse!

BUT, my joy in the LORD is not only transportable, it is INTENSIFIED!

YAYHOOO! I hit the jackpot with JESUS!

In his grip , dr. john is written in blue on a white background.

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Bridgette's Story: 17 Years of Waiting for Life-Changing Surgery

By Michael Ryer • May 13, 2026

For seventeen years, Bridgette has carried a burden no child should ever bear. What started as a small red spot on her face when she was just a baby grew into a massive vascular tumor that doctors across Uganda refused to operate on. Too risky, they said. The tumor could bleed too much. She might not survive. Come back when she's older. Come back when it's smaller. Come back, come back, come back. Bridgette and her mother, Rose, heard "no" for seventeen years. But today, something has finally changed. Bridgette is now on medication that is actively shrinking her tumor. Dr. Paul Mulyamboga, Amigos Internacionales' Director of Medical Services and founder of Doctors on Mission, is monitoring her progress. When the tumor reaches an operable size, he will refer her to Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala for the vascular surgery that could change her life. There's just one problem: surgery can only happen if the funding is already in place . If we don't raise $12,000 before Bridgette's tumor is ready for surgery, she will have to wait again. And after seventeen years of waiting, we cannot let that happen. How It Started — A Small Red Spot