Sostha Muvuma grew up in abject poverty in his village in Zaire. He says, “There was a period of time when we didn’t have enough food and in a week, we could eat only once or twice. I cried severally from hunger and I began to wonder if God really existed.” It was a question he asked for many years until one day he got an answer. “I was 13 and one night I saw the Lord, a clear vision of Him, and I felt this love. It is hard to describe, this love, this mercy. I just started to weep asking the Lord to forgive me. He pointed at me and said, “Now, I am calling you, you will be my servant.” My heart was filled with joy. It was like a discovery.”
As Sostha entered adulthood, he would see God’s hand of
blessing in his life in the area of soccer. Soccer was a whole new ballgame to him but soon, Sostha was excelling greatly and his talent was extraordinary. Sostha’s skill quickly took him to the top, winning him a coveted spot on one of the best soccer teams in Africa. Sostha played hard, determined to blaze a trail for himself. But while always watching the ball, he never took his eyes off of God. He says, “My goal was to win the games, but I could also thank God when we lost. Faith is to thank God when we win and to thank God when we lose.”
With his winning attitude, Sostha continued his string of successes with club after club in Zaire. But his greatest match was yet to come. “One day, I was training and really feeling like I was on the moon. The ball was in the air, I jumped, so did the goalkeeper and the defense. There was a collision and I found myself on the ground.”
Just seconds before, Sostha had been battling for a goal,
now he was fighting for his life; for 12 days Sostha was in a coma. He says that while his battered body lay lifeless, his soul was traveling at the speed of light. “I left my body and I found myself in heaven. It was a fascinating place, a place of peace. No pain, joyful, the decoration was totally extraordinary. I was there and I saw an angel who came to me and said, “Mister, you should not stay here because your mission is not finished yet. You have to go back.” I said to him, “No, let me stay here, I am good here. Please, let me stay.” But he pushed me and I was in my body again in the hospital.”
Two months later Sostha was fully recovered and the
football field was waiting to take him back. A top football club in Greece was offering a lucrative contract, but Sostha had turned his eyes to another field, missions. “I had to obey. I didn’t have any choice.” He says of the calling.
It was now time for this top professional footballer to enter the mission field. He sold all he had, leaving the money, the fame and the fans. The man, who had once asked “Why?” as a boy, had to answer that question for many who could not understand how he could walk away from it all. “It was painful giving away my shoes and all that I had. I wondered if it was all worth following the Lord, or if I should go back to the world of soccer? But, my choice was clear to follow the Lord.”
Sostha’s decision was not without a price and there were many problems along the way. “It was really hard and I wondered if I had really heard God telling me to do mission in Europe. I said, “God, had I known that I was going to go through such difficulties, I would have given my ticket to another person.”
It seems there were many churches who felt that an ex-footballer was not qualified to preach, and Sostha found door after door slamming in his face. Things got so bad that he even considered committing suicide. But even as God heard his questions as a boy, Sostha says God heard his questions again and reassured him that he was doing the right thing.
Now, Sostha has only to reflect on his own life to see that God is well able to handle problems. “I look at my past, where I came from and God’s promise which is becoming real. I am convinced that God is not a man to lie, nor a son of man to repent. I also realized that we have to have confidence in God no matter what the circumstances, the trials a person may go through, if God has given him a promise, God will fulfill that promise.”
Today, Sostha Muvuma is happily married. He now pastors
two vibrant churches in Belgium. One of the churches is in Brussels, right in the heart of one of the worst parts of the city which he says is the field God has given him. Sostha’s message is plain; in the competition of life, anyone on God’s side always wins. “Wherever you are, when you really seek Him sincerely, God will reveal Himself to you and will pull you out of the mud. He will place you in high places and He can make someone of value out of you. It has nothing to do with your race, nothing to do with who we are, but it is His love and His
mercy that does it all.”
