What appears below is the testimony of Sue Donahoe. Sue attends the same church that I do, and I recently became acquainted with her testimony and approached her about posting it here for others to read. What interested me so much about her story is the fact that, prior to her conversion, Sue was involved in a homosexual lifestyle. In this day and age, there is a devastating lie being sold to homosexuals across our nation. This lie is perpetrated by homosexual lobbyists and a secular philosophy that has infiltrated disciplines like psychology and medicine. God says clearly that His grace is for the homosexual:

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." -- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV).

Yet the serpent still whispers, "Has God really said ... ?" The lie fed to homosexuals is that they are born that way, and that they cannot change; that what they do is perfectly natural, and that they should just accept it and be happy. On the other side of it all are fringe groups calling themselves "Christian" who are far more interested in casting stones than in extending the life-changing power of the Gospel to their fellow sinners.

Homosexuals are a part of that same universal group that we are all a part of - the "all" that "have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). If God's grace in Christ is not for the homosexual, then it is not for anyone. All sin is radical rebellion, but God's power to transform lives through the Gospel is more radical still. Sue Donahoe is living proof of this awesome fact. I commend this beloved sister for her courage, and it is my prayer that her testimony will be used by our Lord to minister to those struggling in similar situations who are being victimized by a culture that denies the power of the Gospel.

William Kilgore

My name is Sue Donahoe and I am a forty-year-old single woman with a remarkable story of redemption to tell. It is my heart's passion to bear witness to God's grace, and to tell of how that grace has transformed my life.

I grew up in a family of five kids, born one right after the other, one year after the other. I occupy the second spot in the birth order, though just barely so, as I have a twin brother named Mike who made his entrance into this world just two minutes after I did. The five of us were born to parents who were crazy about each other, and whose love was obviously very productive, early on in their marriage.

We had good times growing up and anyone examining the circumstances of our family life would have assumed that the five of us kids would grow up to be well adjusted, productive adults. But things don't always turn out the way one thinks they might, and sometimes it's difficult to say why that is. The oldest of us, my brother Frank, became an alcoholic, and starting when he was in his early twenties, his life began the slow descent that would take him into that hopeless pit.

In December of 1993, Frank became a father. His girlfriend, Kayla, gave birth to their son, Dustin, a healthy, wide-eyed wonder. The three lived together as a family, my brother continuing to drink heavily. His interest in the pleasures of tequila seemed to be greater than his desire to be a good parent. Kayla stayed with him, though she threatened to leave from time to time. Though Frank wasn't functioning much as a parent, Kayla seemed to have Dustin's interests at heart and appeared to be making the best of a bad situation.

However, when Dustin was about four-years-old Kayla took a turn toward drugs and alcohol herself. A few months after embarking on this destructive path, she took Dustin and left my brother, moving in with another man. Kayla spent the next few months going back and forth between this other man and my brother, sometimes taking my nephew along with her, sometimes leaving him behind with my brother. This pattern continued for well over a year, with Dustin not being very well taken care of, no matter which parent he was with.

At Christmas, 1998, some things happened which brought me to a place of complete despair for him. I knew that I needed to do something, and for the next several weeks I spent many of my waking hours debating and arguing with myself over what to do. I knew what needed to be done, but I knew also that it would mean my plans would be interrupted, the neat little map I'd laid out for my life might now have to be tossed aside. I don't exaggerate when I say that it was a time of great anguish for me.

After much soul searching, I decided to talk to Frankie and Kayla to ask them to consider letting Dustin come to live with me. I would gently point out that neither of them were living their lives in a way that provided the stability and security that a child needs to have. I would stress that it wasn't my intention to take their little boy away from them, but that I wanted to help them by providing a safe and healthy home for their son while they spent some time getting themselves straightened out. The use of drugs and alcohol was destroying their lives, I'd tell them, and I could see no solution to their problems that would allow them to continue using.

The process of making the decision to offer to change my life so dramatically, and then determining how to approach the subject with Frankie and Kayla was really an exhausting journey for me. I'd talked with Mom and Dad a number of times during my struggle with this and I had their support, but even so I felt terribly alone. The weight of it all was a great burden, and there were times when I wasn't sure I had the strength to bear it.

Finally, I had things all worked out in my mind and I picked a day that I would go and talk to Frankie and Kayla. I chose a day in January and my choice of days, a Sunday, would ultimately change my life forever.

When the appointed day came I was feeling a bit anxious and, again, so very much alone. Dad called that morning to offer a thought he'd had, and then he said, "We're getting ready to go to church, so I'll let you go." After I hung up the phone, the words "go to church" continued to ring in my ears. I decided I should go to church. Maybe I could talk to God and get some sense of peace with what was ahead of me. And so I went. And my life was interrupted on that day, because I literally met God in that place. I felt an overwhelming sense of grief as I thought of how I'd spent all those years of my life completely cut off from God. I can look back and pinpoint a time, in my youth, when I came to a crossroad - faced with the choice of following God or pursuing my own desires. I chose to go my own way and spent the next twenty-plus years putting as much distance as I could between God and me.

There were times over the years when I'd look back over my shoulder and wonder what if…. Then I would dismiss the thought, telling myself that God would never have me now, the way I've lived my life, it's just too late to change it now. And as the years passed my sense of emptiness was a burden that became steadily heavier. I even sought therapy a few times, and while I'd feel just a little better for a while after doing so, I still felt this widening hole in my soul that I couldn't seem to find a way to fill.

But on that day in January, as I sat in church, pouring my heart out to God, He began to fill that hole. I realized that as a flawed human being, my sin had separated me from God. But because He loves me, he arranged things so that I didn't have to stay in that lost condition. The death of His own son, Jesus, on the cross paid the debt for my sin, all I had to do was acknowledge that sin, repent, and accept the gift. In case you don't know, the gift is eternal life and God gives it to anyone who accepts His son as the Christ, the savior, and commits to living a life for Him. I've made that commitment and He continues to honor that promise, and to bless me and fill me with a sense of wonder at His amazing grace.

After I made this decision I began to think about who I am, how I've identified myself as a gay person, and how that squares with God's will for my life. I knew that the bible says that God doesn't want us to live that way. But that was a pretty bitter pill to swallow, as it was a fundamental part of who I was for all of my adult life. So I began to pray, "God , I'm going to trust you to show me the way you want me to live. If it's really your will that I should leave that behind, you show me and I'll accept what you have to say." As I began my journey with Him, studying His word daily and spending much time in prayer, I began to have a sense that He was leading me away from my past life, a path I'd never dreamed I would walk away from. "Leave that behind," He seemed to be saying, "I have something better for you." And so I've continued to follow Him, trusting that His plans for me will be far better than anything I could ever work out for myself. Jeremiah 29:11-14 says:

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity.'"

In obedience to Him, I've chosen to live my life in devotion to His calling, no longer pursuing or accepting sexual relationships with women. Some of you may argue that while I can change my behavior, I can't change who I am inside. And you're right. I don't have the power to change such a basic aspect of my nature. But God can change anything He wants to change, and He's freed me of the desire to live a gay life. II Corinthians 5:17 says:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

I'm living proof of God's power to transform lives, and I thank Him daily for the changes he's made in me.

It's been quite a journey getting to the place where I am now, a place of deciding to share the details of this experience with all of you. As I seek to know God more fully, studying His word and talking to Him, He continues to reveal Himself to me and to fill that hole that was formed in me, in the place where I needed Him to be. I believe He has a plan for my life and the process of allowing Him to show me what it is has been incredibly thrilling for me.

If you know Him as I do, as the Savior and Lord of everything, please pray for me, and know that I pray for you as well. If you don't know Him in a personal way, let me invite you to join me on this awesome journey. He wants each of us to have an abundance of life, and this fulfillment can only be found in Him, by confessing our sin, acknowledging that Jesus died on the cross as payment for that sin, and inviting Him to live in us. Allow Him to interrupt your life and it will never be the same.

I thank you for letting me share this very personal story with you. Please don't hesitate to write me if you have any questions, or even if you want to argue with me, or to tell me that you think I'm crazy. I welcome all inquiries and comments. Again, thanks for your time.