Road To Redemption
Road To Redemption
Jahan Berns Triumph of Hope
What if you found light amidst the darkest times? Jahan Berns shares her compelling journey from the chaos of a war-torn Uganda to the peace and hope she discovered through faith. Growing up surrounded by violence and loss, Jahan's story is one of resilience and redemption. Faced with the occult's pull during desperate moments, a British missionary boarding school became her sanctuary. There, the profound impact of faith and scripture brought healing and renewed strength to her life, shaping her path toward resilience and triumph over adversity.
Jahan's story doesn't stop in Uganda; it extends to her rise in America, where success met a divine calling. From a flourishing career as an attorney, Jahan felt the profound call to full-time ministry, leading to the creation of Triumph of Hope. Her transformative experiences and prophetic encounters, particularly in 2020, affirmed her path. Jahan's narrative underscores a universal truth: material success is fleeting without spiritual awakening and hope, serving as an anchor for the soul in a world in search of meaning.
At Triumph of Hope, the mission is clear—preach the gospel, disciple believers, and cultivate prayer partnerships. We discuss their upcoming retreat, a transformative experience aimed at empowering participants with God's grace and love, inspired by scriptures like 2 Corinthians 9:8 and Isaiah 55. This retreat promises a refreshing burst of spiritual renewal, open to all, with scholarships ensuring accessibility for everyone. We close with a heartfelt prayer for listeners, inviting divine grace and protection into your lives. Join us in embracing a journey filled with divine hope and salvation.
Triumph of Hope's Abound 30A retreat is on February 7th -9th 2025 in Watercolor / Santa Rosa Beach FL. For more info see the link below:
Abound 30A Retreat: https://triumphofhope.com/events/abound-2025
For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com
Welcome to Road to Redemption, a show sharing powerful life testimonies, giving hope to those on their own road to redemption.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Road to Redemption. I'm John Martin, your host, and we've got a great show today. I have Valerie Peterson here with me and our guest is Jahan Burns. Jahan, thanks for being here.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you for having me, John and Valerie. I'm excited.
Speaker 2:We're so excited to have you on and let's just dive in. Tell us a little bit about you and your story.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I was born in Uganda. My family was a military family. My father trained in different countries as a commando family, my father trained in different countries as a commando, and Uganda was a British colony and so once the colonialists moved out we went into civil war. So I was born right in the middle of civil war in 1979. And my father helped oust a very infamous dictator in Uganda. But our country was divided, you know, very horribly by the civil war. So by the early 80s there were different fighting factions and my father had an army that controlled the southern half of our country.
Speaker 3:And I come from the biggest tribe in Uganda called Buganda, out of which Uganda gets its name. So my earliest memories were of war. I saw my first corpse at five years old and I remember that our house was bombed and our parents took us to my grandmother's and one of the villagers was attacked and you know they wiped out all the adults, and so when you look at some of the documentaries from the early 80s you see pictures of children playing with skulls. That's how bad it was. But anyway, in 1985, all these fighting factions came together to form a unity government and my father was able to come out of the fighting and for just a few months I had what normal family life is. And then one day he took me to school, left me with a bunch of bodyguards, came back two hours later and fighting had broken out in the city. We left to go home and they were shooting at us. We got home and my father got this phone call after phone call after phone call, and they had this famous hotel in Kampala. Kampala is a capital city where they used to meet for talks, and so they call him there, you know, to resume peace talks. But it was an ambush. So he walked in there with 50 soldiers and they beheaded them. They took him to a lonely road and they killed him, shot him multiple times and dumped him in a ditch. And then they called the radio station and the TV station and they told him. So we found out about it on the news and it was crazy. It was such a scary time.
Speaker 3:And then I was six and a half. It's hard to really process death at that age and I was like what does that mean? What does that mean that he's dead, he's not coming back? And so my dad had a village home, so they drive us to the village and we were looking they are sending out such parties to look for the body. After about two weeks they found a corpse and brought it home to the village and they're like this is your dad and you have to wash him and prepare him for burial, and it just went into a state of shock. So we lost everything. We came back from that funeral and one of my father's very good friends had taken over the home. And here in America here in America we have such protections. You know, the rule of law is such an important thing to have, but in war, especially in third world countries, there's none. So we lost everything. We became destitute for years.
Speaker 3:My mom was a practicing Muslim. Then she raised us in Islam, but she was so depressed and we were so poor, so broke. A friend of hers then invited her into the occult to get answers. You know, when people are desperate, they turn to a supernatural source, and sometimes it's not God, and in her case it wasn't, and that took us down to this hellish path. Not God, and in her case it wasn't, and that took us down to this hellish path.
Speaker 3:Thankfully, though, I ended up in a British missionary boarding school in Uganda, and it was there that people first started telling me about Jesus and these girls just prayed and prayed and prayed for me and I was just really hateful and traumatized and angry and very oppressed, very oppressed by the enemy. But it was there that the Lord dramatically found me and I ended up reading the Bible and I read Psalm 91 on a night that I was just so afraid I had tried. At this point I was about 15 years old. I tried to take my life at least three times and when I read Psalm 91, it leapt to life and I was like, oh my gosh, I've never read anything like this. And the next morning I was like I want to know what's in the Bible.
Speaker 3:So for three days I skipped school and I just read the Bible nonstop. And on the third day I finished and I knew that I had to give my life to the Lord up. And on the third day I finished and I knew that I had to give my life to the Lord. I didn't understand everything I read, but I knew it was alive. So I went to the chap where I nailed down and I said God, my greatest need is to be free of this darkness, because I lived in darkness perpetually and when I finished saying that, I told him I will serve you.
Speaker 3:I didn't even know what that meant, but what I felt was an incredible feeling of warmth that came over me and I began to cry. But I wasn't sad, I was just crying nonstop and I saw all these flashbacks of my life and it was in that crying that the Lord was healing me of all this trauma. And when I came to a stop, I felt clean, I felt different and I felt love. No one had ever told me I love you. I'd never told anyone I love you. And I walked out of there and I saw a girl. I despised and I held out my arms and I told her I love you and she's like ah, I mean, I shocked her as much as I shocked myself, but that's how like instant the change was when Jesus came into my life and he began to rebuild me and restore me and deal with my darkness.
Speaker 3:So, that's how I came to the Lord.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Wow what a story and what a testimony for people to even listening today that you know you went through trauma and you are at a point where God really has taken your pain and has made it your purpose and platform. He doesn't waste it, does he, johan? No, no.
Speaker 3:He doesn't. No, no, he doesn't. And you know, you, at the time I was going through those things, I was I'll be like why? Me? You know, I was so bitter, I was angry, I felt like I was the abnormal person. You know the abnormal child. But you know, when I meet people now that have been sexually abused well, I went through that. You know, when I meet people that have made been sexually abused, well, I went through that. You know, when I meet people that have made such a mess of their lives and had abortions and they're dealing with guilt, well, I went through that. And to be able to hold someone's hand and pray with them and they say there is healing, there is forgiveness, there's freedom, it's everything and it makes it worth it. You know that he doesn't waste our pain or our tears. You know that verse. He collects our tears and he records it.
Speaker 4:Yes, yeah, amazing well, it says to me, I'm interrupting you, but I, it says to me, they're important to him. So many people in america look at tears as a weakness, but god looks at it as a cleansing and a healing. I don't know about you all, but when I cry and have a good cry, I feel better. So no wonder he says he collects them in heaven, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, it's a soul cleansing, for sure, that's it, that's it.
Speaker 2:Well, and Jahan, I was just going to say fast forward a little bit bit, because when I first met you you were an attorney in Birmingham, and a successful attorney, and now I know you're in full-time ministry. Can you kind of take us to the next step? How did you get to the US and tell us more?
Speaker 3:So I went to law school in Uganda and then I moved to England and lived in England for a while. I met my husband while in my last year of law school in Uganda. My husband's American. So we got married. Crazy story. But we met on a Christian dating site and we were like we've heard the Lord, we had to get married. We got married in three or four months. Never seen each other, we decided we're going to get married. The first day we lay eyes on each other, like my mom was like Are you nuts? I was like well, I'm gone, you know. So we've been married 20 years. But that's how I got to the US and he's from Illinois. But Illinois was so cold, I was so miserable. So we moved down south to Alabama and I go back to law school and you know, and start practicing at a big law firm downtown Birmingham and I loved it. I really did.
Speaker 3:So. You think you grew up as a poor girl from Africa, sleeping on the floors, hardly having anything to eat, raggedy clothing. Then you come to America and you experience American dream. Right, you're successful, you have a job that you love. I never lost a single case.
Speaker 3:So I just really thought I was living the life until the Lord spoke to me and he said I want you to go into full-time ministry Now. I'd always had people walk up to me and say God's calling to ministry. You've been through so much and everything you've been through God's going to use. I was like yeah, yeah, yeah. But the whole idea of full-time ministry I didn't want to. You know, I was like I was thinking of Africa, where people that are in full-time ministry you're poor, you know. I was like I don't want to depend on anyone. God's brought me to this country where I can live the American dream. Why would I want to go into full-time ministry? Can't I just do a little thing on the side and serve God on the side? But you know, john and Valerie, the thing that kept on hitting at me is that I would always remember how lost I was, how lonely, what a dark place I was in. And there are times I looked in people's faces and I saw that and I can't tell you I would go to court.
Speaker 3:I used to represent banks. I was in the mortgage banking industry. You know you've sued, brought lawsuits against you know all these little people and you get there and you see their pain and I would sit down with them and begin to pray with them, the people I have sued. You know I would pray with judges, I mean things like that until I said, okay, god, if you want me to do full-time ministry, change my heart, because I'm going to be honest, I don't want to do it. Change my heart. 2020 happens and we all think the world's ending, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:So I sit down and I really begin to pray, go on this prayer journey with the Lord and I fast and I really laid down my life. I said I want to do what you want, I want what you want. And out of that, I came to the realization God was telling me leave your job. So I left my job and took a job working as a COO for Christian ministry, and it was those three years that really made me realize I really want to do this full time. I'm going to go where God is sending me to go.
Speaker 3:So after three years, I was ready to take that big step of faith and walk away from that job, start a new ministry, not knowing where my next paycheck was coming from or how God was going to provide, or where even the people were going to come from. But I was just shocked that God did it and it exploded. And you know what People are hungry. People are so hungry for Jesus as times get dark, not just in America but all over the world. People are looking for answers because we come to a point and we realize our money is not enough. People are looking for answers because we come to a point and we realize our money is not enough, our education is not enough, the social connections we have are not enough, and so there is that hunger for satisfaction.
Speaker 4:And I want to add I don't know about you, but I just sense people today need hope. And I look at in Hebrews 6, where it says hope is an anchor. It keeps us firm and secure. And you bring hope for people that may be at their lowest point today. Listening in, you bring hope that you can get through it. God can take us through the fire and the water, as it says in Psalm 66, and get us to a place of rich fulfillment. That's where you're at today.
Speaker 3:Valerie, you hit that nail on the head. When I was really praying into the name of this ministry, I felt the Lord said call it triumph of hope. It's the triumph of our hope in Him.
Speaker 2:Wow, I love that. Wow. So what was it that finally got you to the point where you were ready to start this ministry and tell us a little bit about the ministry.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it was a crazy. It was a series of crazy. God encounters 2022,. I was walking in Israel with some of our staff at the old ministry job I was doing old ministry job I was doing and this man walks up to me, a Jewish man in maybe his 70s, all white hair, all white beard, looks like an Old Testament kind of prophet that you would think of. He stops right in the middle of the street and he said God told me I would find you here and he begins to tell me everything about my life and he says I've been sent as your sign that you are to go into full-time ministry and you start now. It starts now and he says oh, by the way, you need to write a book. God's been telling you to write a book for a very long time. So I mean, when someone does that and reads your mail in the middle of the street in Jerusalem you're like, oh my gosh, I was just weeping like a baby.
Speaker 3:Okay, that was May of 2022. I go back in October of 2022 and I'm in a prayer house, you know. People from all over the world are there praying and the man that leads it, a guy called Rick Ridings, stands up and he says the Lord has spoken to me, that a great awakening will come to America, but the doorway will be Alabama, you know, and it says the Southeast God is in the South. Alabama will be a doorway. Are there any people from Alabama? So our group is like, you know.
Speaker 3:We lift up our hands and he says you come over here, he points to me and he tells me word for word what that guy told me in May, you know. And so after that I was like, oh my goodness. So I started paying attention. I was like, okay, as I prayed, I said God, what's your timeline? And God clearly spoke to me. He said 17 months. And 17 months to the day that the Lord spoke to me, I decided to take that step of faith.
Speaker 3:I was reading the book of Acts, really, and it was the Apostle Paul writing and saying I have laid down my life for the gospel. He's saying farewell to the Ephesians. I have not held back at all. I've been bitten, I've been left for dead, I've gone hungry, but I have preached the gospel. I have run my race. And I began to cry. I was like, wow, to serve God like that. And the Lord said go do it. And I knew I just stood up. I told my husband I'm quitting my job, I'm going to start this ministry.
Speaker 3:So I launched it with my friends and our three pillars were one, you know, to preach the gospel. Because when you look at how we're looking at darkness and how darkness has advanced, it's because we've stopped really preaching the gospel. So we have to go back to telling people about Jesus and not just leave it to the evangelists, you know, to disciple people. Do you know? I read some very interesting statistics that when you hold a gospel crusade okay, of a thousand people that give their lives to Jesus at a gospel crusade, when you go back a year later to check on those people, only 10% are still holding their faith. So why? I mean, their commitment was genuine when they made it, but there's no discipleship. And then the third thing, of course, is I've led such a life of prayer. I mean, when you go through such trauma like I have, you know, it inspires you to really commune with God. That's the only way I've been healed. And so I found that, as I ministered to people, the ministry of prayer, when you coupled it with the Word of God, brought tremendous transformation, tremendous liberation, tremendous deliverance. So those were the three things we set out to do as our mission Preach the gospel, disciple people and create prayer partnerships and programs that would empower people to learn how to pray and how to war for themselves, for their families, for their country. So we've, as a ministry, we've done that and we have a lot of outreaches.
Speaker 3:One of the things that I love is outreach to people that are hurting. You know, people that are coming out of drugs, people that are just stuck in life. So we do a lot of outreaches like that. We do retreats, our love retreats. We're coming here to do a retreat February 7th to the 9th and that's more of empowering and igniting God's people to. You know, for the Holy Spirit to light the fire in us again. You know that to wake up out of your bed with such excitement to say I want to serve God today. I want to touch someone with the love of Jesus Christ. I want to lay hands on someone that is sick and pray and leave them with hope that God can heal them. I want to find someone that's oppressed and say the name of Jesus sets captives free. You know it's a life of a disciple, that's what Jesus calls us to do. But to get there your heart has to be ignited, right, right.
Speaker 4:Amen.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Can you tell us a little bit about, like, how people can find out more about this conference, this retreat that's coming up February 7th through 9th?
Speaker 3:Yes, so our ministry is called Triumph of Hope, and so when you go online, all you have to type in is triumphofhopecom. And when you go to events, you will see an event called Abound. And as we were praying specifically for this area, the mandate or the vision that the Lord gave us was based on 2 Corinthians 9.8,. You know, and the God of all grace, you know, he's able to make his grace abound to you and give you all sufficiency to do every good work. When you look at it, god's calling us to a life of abounding in him. When you look at that Greek word, abound, it's the richness of God's mercy, god's grace, god's blessing. When God wrote that word in there, he meant for us to understand that there is more. I want to give you more than you're experiencing. And so when you look at Isaiah 55, it says all who are thirsty, this is God's invitation. When you look at Isaiah 55, it says all who are thirsty, this is God's invitation all who are thirsty, come to the waters. You know, come and get that which satisfies, because he's saying you've spent money on that which doesn't satisfy. Now I'm inviting you to come and get that which satisfies you, so you will abound in my grace so that you get all that you need for sufficiency, for every good work.
Speaker 3:What does Apostle Paul say? We were created for good works. We are masterpieces created for good works from before the foundation of the world. But how many of us are living in that place of abiding and abounding? And so this conference is to really invite the Lord, invite his Holy Spirit, to so fill his people with such love, such renewal of hope, healing, transformation. You know to live just filled and without fire lit, to go out and do every good work that God has called us to be. Whether you're an attorney, whether you are a domestic worker, whether you're a ministry worker, you know one word from Jesus being in the presence of God is everything.
Speaker 2:It changes you, yeah, so that's what I want to do. What a weekend that's going to be it is, and it's here. It's going to be in watercolor at the Lake House, I think. Right, the watercolor on 30A. But anybody really in the Florida Panhandle you're in close proximity to this event, coming up the weekend of February 8th it's for men and women, or February 8th it's for men and women, and just we just say, just look it up, Triumph of Hope, and we just pray that you'll come.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and John, if there are people listening and they can't afford, you know, to that registration fee, let us know We'll be happy to provide a scholarship. I think that that's awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that is awesome. Wow, wow. Drew just handed me the scripture verse God is able, god is able to make all grace abound towards you. That you will abound to every good work, 2 Corinthians 6, 9. Wow, that was right there.
Speaker 2:Praise God. Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 4:That's wonderful. Every good work. Yes, right, right.
Speaker 2:So Jahan. I wanted to ask, as we're coming to the end of our show I mean, gosh, you went through a lot, but I know that you've been delivered, set free. How did you do that From your story? What was the thing that, finally, you feel like was your breakthrough? For anybody that maybe is listening out there is looking for this breakthrough, is there one thing that you would attribute that to?
Speaker 3:Yes, you have to surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Number one Jesus loves you. Two he wants to set you free. The Bible says it was for this reason that the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the enemy. So, whatever you're going through, that is hard, that is difficult, that is awful, it's not the work of the Lord. God loves His people, but we have an enemy that is bent on destroying us. Jesus said in John 10, 10, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I've come that you may have life, and life in abundance. So it is that when we come to Jesus, fully surrender to him, invite him in to help us, he will. I learned that if I took advantage of what he did for me on the cross, when I laid my life down and asked him for help, he answered. God is interested in answering and intervening in our lives, so good.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 4:Surrender what a word, yeah, release Surrender, hand over, right, right, yes.
Speaker 2:Once again, folks, we're visiting with Jahan Burns Triumph of Hope, and they're going to be doing just an amazing retreat here in the Florida Panhandle, santa Rosa Beach, and the weekend of February 8th. So we just ask all of y'all to just pray about it and we just hope you can come. We just promise God's going to do some amazing things. So let's close in prayer. John, would you like to close this out?
Speaker 3:Yes, thank you, father. In the name of Jesus, I want to thank you for each person here in this program. Thank you for this program, thank you for anointing it, for using it, god, as your mouthpiece to bring hope and salvation to the hearers. So today, father, we pray for each man and woman that's listening to this program. Would you reach out with your mighty hand, oh God, would your grace, father, wash over them right now?
Speaker 3:In the name of Jesus, I plead the blood of Jesus over you right now and I pray that the Lord will reach out in your circumstances and encourage you and touch you and draw you to himself. May you be filled with all hope. May the peace of God overflow in your life. I pray for the Lord to protect you from the enemy of God overflow in your life. I pray for the Lord to protect you from the enemy. I ask that the angels of the Lord watch over you and your family in Jesus name, that you may abound in the grace of God and in everything the Lord has called you to do. May you find his grace and his strength to do it. We bless you to thrive and to prosper in this season, in Jesus name, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Road to Redemption, sharing powerful life testimonies, giving hope to those on their own road to redemption. If you have any comments or questions, we would love to connect with you. You can reach out to us at destinyradiolive. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week on Road to Redemption.