Meet Lalam Monica, a Life Beads Table Leader

Renewal and Joy Through Christ

In Ephesians 2:10, Paul reminds us of God’s sovereignty in our lives. He says, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (ESV). This verse tells us that not only are we hand crafted by the Lord, but He also has our lives planned out, to orchestrate ways to glorify Him. 


Through the story of how Lalam Monica started working at Life Beads, we see how God guides us to a life of glorifying Him, even before we commit our lives to Him. Her story of renewal reminds us of how God wants us to live out His grace and live in the joy of the Holy Spirit.


Monica’s childhood was spent in constant fear of the civil war raging in northern Uganda. She was born in 1989, during the early years of the war. Joseph Kony was leading his rebel army through Monica’s homeland in Kinene, abducting children and murdering thousands. Her parents were murdered by rebels when she was only a baby. Along with the remaining members of her family, she fled to an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camp in Paicho once their land had been taken over by rebel soldiers.


While this camp stood as a refuge for people who had been forced to flee their homes in the war, the living conditions were poor and the rebel soldiers remained nearby. “You had to be alert all the time because the rebels could come. It affected a lot of things,” Monica says.


There was no education offered to her in the IDP camp, and she was required to work while there. Because of overcrowding, Monica had to find work outside the camp’s compound. She started farming in a garden near the camp. Her and her friends had to sneak to work, in constant worry that the rebels would interfere. While Monica had not yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Lord watched over her and provided protection.

"The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps," Proverbs 16:9

As the war reached its end, Monica was a teenager and was still living in Paicho with her brother. The Local Chairman (a district elected leader) helped her find a job near the IDP camp at a paper jewelry company. There she was trained in cutting paper in preparation for rolling it into beads. She was able to work with this organization for a while, but it ultimately closed down because of poor management. While her plans to continue working at this company fell through, we later see that the Lord had his own plan and purpose in placing her there. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps." Even though Monica was not yet a believer, the Lord was indeed establishing her steps.


After the war, Monica's family began settling back into Kinene. She was now a mother of two sons and her husband was absent at the time. In the aftermath of the war, many of the Acholi tribe where in land disputes. Without her husband’s presence, Monica had no land to go to. Her only hope was to settle with her maternal family. In Ugandan culture a woman is not meant to return to her family once she has married, even if the husband is not present. Monica’s family would not help her raise her children and they often chased her away from their land, bringing her much hardship.


In 2013, Monica was able to find a steady job to pay for her children's needs. The Local Chairman who placed her at the previous paper bead company, informed her of a new organization near her village, Life Beads. The ministry was in its early stages, with only seven women making jewelry. Monica became the eighth, and was able to join quickly because she had already been trained on cutting paper. She says that being selected to cut the paper at her previous job was a blessing from God because it led her to getting the job at Life Beads.


Monica’s husband returned and she gave birth to two more children. His presence in their lives remained infrequent and she was often left alone to care for the four children. After years of going through constant hardships, Monica continued working at Life Beads and became a table leader, with the role of guiding the other Life Beads workers. Along with selling chapati (tortilla-like bread) to her coworkers and working at Life Beads, Monica has been able to pay all her children’s school fees.


Life Beads gave Monica the community of supportive women that she needed. While the gospel was at the center of many conversations, she was heavily resistant to it for years. When her husband would return, he further discouraged her from trusting in Jesus. Life Beads leaders, Amony Pamela and Mallory Corbin continued telling Monica of the goodness of God and showing her the love of Christ. By the grace of God, her heart began to soften.


In 2021, after eight years of hearing the gospel at Abaana’s Hope and being poured into by missionaries and fellow Life Beads women, Monica chose to surrender her life to Christ. “Being in a sinful world, a lot of challenges were coming. I could not bear the challenges by myself,” Monica says. “I decided to confess Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.” Knowing that the challenges will continue to come, Monica now chooses to surrender her worries to Christ and worship Him in times of hardship.

“The greatest thing God has done in my life is changing me and giving me the heart of forgiveness.”

Those around Monica are able to see the work God has done in her heart. She often talks about how much joy she now has from the Lord. She has offered up her home to host a Bible study for teenage girls in the community. She has also made amends with her maternal family, who brought her so much hardship. “I thank God that despite all things, I am living happily with them,” she says. “The greatest thing God has done in my life is changing me and giving me the heart of forgiveness.”


After forgiving her family, she says that she has received so much joy from the Lord in that situation. At times they still treat her poorly, but she now responds with a heart of forgiveness. “I know that when you are a born-again believer, it's not that you don't go through difficulties. They are there,” Monica says. “But the way you respond to them is far different from the way an unbeliever responds.”


Monica’s story reminds us of how God is working in our lives even before we open our hearts to Him. God knew that one day Monica would hear the gospel at Life Beads, so years prior, He placed her in a company to be trained at cutting paper. God also knew that one day Monica's heart would be transformed, leading her to forgive her family. Her forgiving heart is a testimony to how the Holy Spirit changes us. Hopefully, through Monica, her family can see the joy she's found in God and turn to Him as well.


Even amidst turmoil, the Lord is always working in our lives. From the moment we are born, He is shaping us into His disciples. Please pray for Monica, that she is able to buy her own land and continue being an example of Christ’s love for her family and fellow Life Bead’s women. May her story stand as a testimony of God’s sovereignty and renewal of our hearts.

By Rachel West

July 2025

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope," Romans 15:13