Reconnecting with God after tragedy

As the daughter of two Salvation Army officers (pastors), Lia’s childhood was filled with love for God. After discovering her own connection with Christ through music, she started attending creative arts programs through The Salvation Army.

While away at camp, Lia began struggling with her faith as she received heartbreaking news about her dad.

Listen to her testimony to see how she rediscovered her love for God.

Below is a transcript of the video edited for readability.

Lia Louangamath: I’m blessed to have grown up in a household filled with music and creativity and just people who love Jesus. Some of my best childhood memories was my dad getting out his guitar and playing worship music or Backstreet Boys with my mom on the piano and just us jamming out.

My dad would always be in the garden, in the backyard, planting fruits and vegetables so that we could have his Laotian and Thai food. He would always be behind the camera recording or taking pictures of us and just always documenting our lives to look back on.

Growing up as an officer’s kid, I was always involved within the church, and I sort of grew to know that I was supposed to do it out of God’s victory. But, when I was younger, I was just doing it for fun or because my friends were doing it.

My relationship with Christ became more real when I was getting involved with the music and creative arts programs. I attended devotional music days where I was able to sing within the choirs and dance with like, youth groups. I just loved how that was another form of worship and another form of sharing the gospel.

That led my sister and I to attend WMI, the Western Music Institute. And there we just furthered our passions for music and had such a great fellowship with the people there.

WMI of 2023, someone had gotten the call from my mom that the cancer that my dad had been battling for only ten months had severely taken over his body. So, my sister and I had to leave camp early in the middle of the week and take a quick flight back home.

Driving to the hospital, once we got there, it was a silent ride. We knew that our mom would be there, and other supporters would be there, and our dad would be there in that bed. We were nervous and scared. I remember singing with friends and family around him. And a few days after, on August 4th, my dad met with God in heaven.

My dad was such a big influence in my life, it was really tough to not be angry at God. Going to church made me compare other leaders to my dad, just not being able to see my mom and his dynamic work together anymore hurt a lot. I did not want to go to church or be involved or go to any youth groups at all.

I had to start off that senior year of high school without my dad. I would find myself, like, trying to hide my tears were holding it back because other people wouldn’t understand what I was going through.

March came around and I was somehow convinced to attend my last divisional youth retreat. I wanted to go because of my friends, but not much because I wanted to learn more about Christ.

And there we were, given these small notebooks. I felt moved to start writing in there as a way to communicate with God. Doing that, I felt such a calming and peaceful feeling, just being able to spend that time with God. I really started to be stronger in my faith again.

I was asked to be a part of the music staff during the music camp week, and I had so much fun doing it, just leading the youth and teaching them about God’s love and just understanding that I myself needed to reflect God’s love.

During my time there, I was constantly reminded about my dad and how he led. He was so enthusiastic and so fun, and that made me want to be that leader for the kids.

My mom always says that he would be so proud of how far I’ve come, of how I put myself out there. Through singing, through creative arts, through my creativity.

Now I find the joy in my life by using the gifts that God has given me, in order to share the gospel with other people. I’m thankful to know that I’m truly not alone.

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