Gospel musician Joy Tendo Mata is well known for all-time favorite songs such as “Tewali mbela,” “Eyalama noi-noi” and “He will be with you.”
Now, a powerful part of her testimony was shared just recently, with hope that it will inspire ladies who are finding it hard to get over a tough childhood or past broken relationship.
Mata which means milk, is the name which her grandmother gave her at birth and she happens to be the only girl in the family. Joy Tendo was born 34 years ago to the late Patrick Mwanje and Cissy Nanyonjo.
“My journey has not been easy,” Joy Tendo started her speech. “It is God who has helped me.”
She was speaking during a ladies conference labeled ‘Sheros by Grace,’ hosted by Dr Juliane Susanne Otim at Miracle Centre, Seeta on 7th March, 2020.
Unlike her peers, Joy Tendo explained that she did not get the privilege of experiencing a health home environment.
“I did not have a home, I was raised from the church,” she said.
“I never had the opportunity of someone telling me they love me or pray for me. I did not get to learn how a girl child should live, apart from the few things they taught at church,” she continued.
Without the appropriate, and loving parental figure, Joy Tendo felt completely empty, and this affected her in ways she never imagined.
At the age of 21, she was approached by a man who expressed deep interest in her. “When someone told me, ‘I love you’ at 21, I thought I have arrived,” she said.
With hope that she could find fulfillment, Joy Tendo gave in, and later had a child with the man.
“Since I had grown up from church, the best they could do is tell the man, ‘marry her.’ So, I entered marriage unprepared. At that time, I had just started music,” she said.
“It challenged me. I was in marriage, but I didn’t know what to do. I had my second child. In that process, my marriage failed. My husband left for the UK, and didn’t bother finding out how I was, or the Children. But God is so faithful,” Joy Tendo said.
She decided to move on with life, and also made efforts to pursue her musical dream in Church. She was later invited to minister in the UK.
“When I got the chance to go to the UK, I found him there. He couldn’t say that he knew me,” Tendo explained. “I had ministry there, and God glorified Himself. I want to tell you that God never forsake His own. In that process, God gave me another husband, with who I had twins.”
“God took away my sorrow. The gentleman loved me with the children I had from my past marriage. For God to work in your life, He sometimes does not base on your past. He does something new that will glorify His name. What I enjoy most in life is to sing for God,” she told the congregation.
“I came to understand that it is only through serving God that I will be able to cross over. It is ministry that has made me what I am today. God has introduced me to people I never thought I will ever meet. God has taken me to places I never thought I would get to. He has ushered me to nations with literally nothing,” she said.
