From the New Age to new life in Jesus

Lu was born into an atheist family. Apart from saying the Lord’s Prayer and singing hymns at school each day, she had nothing to do with God growing up. Little did she know that even these small routines were laying the foundation for a future relationship with Him.

Childhood was a challenging time. Lu experienced bullying at school and struggled deeply with self-esteem. She left home in her teens and began working in an advertising agency in Bristol. Over the next 15 years, she worked hard and played hard.

“It was all festivals, parties, sex, drugs and rave music, and trying to fill what I now know was the God-shaped hole inside me. I was quite broken, and had the money from a successful career to be reckless.”

Motherhood and the resurfacing of old wounds 

Lu met her husband Tom and they got married in 2008. In 2009, she gave birth to her son, but the experience was traumatic and deeply unsettling. Yet, in the midst of that, something shifted within her.

“I’d grown up not feeling safe, so I’d always have this armour around my heart, but the love I felt for my son just melted that completely. It was a really transformational moment for me, despite the birth and brutal newborn days, as he had reflux. It was a very tough time, but I’m a resilient person so I just pushed through.”

The family later moved to Somerset. During a house extension, they lived in a rental property and, after returning to their renovated home, Lu gave birth to her daughter in 2011. But the pressure of life had already began to mount. 

“It just all got too much. I was heavily pregnant, working on our house and after my daughter arrived, the next year was really tricky. I struggled with my mental health. I had a challenging toddler, a newborn and no community.”

Despite living in what seemed like an idyllic setting with a comfortable lifestyle, Lu experienced a mental breakdown.

“I was diagnosed with chronic stress, and beneath this were deep inner wounds and low self-esteem. The intensity of the stress just uncovered them. I started a mild dose of antidepressants, which helped a little.”

From coaching to reiki

In her search for healing and hope, Lu was drawn into the world of wellness, self-development and the New Age.

“I went on a weekend taster course for life coach training. I learned about mindset and limiting beliefs, and it was a lightbulb moment for me. It made sense to me that I’d been thinking negatively about myself my whole life, and that I could change that.”

She trained as a spiritual life coach in 2013 and began working in the personal development space. Around the same time, Tom was also struggling with stress from his gruelling job in sales. He went to see a kinesiologist, who invited him to a meditation day. There, someone told him about the book The Power of Now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle, which he also recommended Lu read. 

Lu became deeply immersed in this world. “The life coaching industry is really a big pyramid scheme where you build your own personal brand, then charge lots of money to coach others so they can go and do the same. I had a ‘period of ascension’, when I started to change my thinking.”

I was quite broken, and had the money from a successful career to be reckless

Lu started a Facebook group and coached many women who were struggling, helping them pursue healing in the same way she was. For a time, things seemed to improve.

Tom took a work sabbatical and helped Lu with her coaching business. Just before he went back to work in 2016, they both got reiki attuned, which means working with a reiki master to open energy pathways, and then went on to practise reiki healing on others. 

“That was the moment I opened myself to the spiritual world,” Lu says.

Desperately seeking healing

Soon after, Lu experienced another breakdown. “This time it affected both my body and mind, and my childhood trauma was unlocked. I had chronic fatigue and CPTSD – it was brutal, lasting about two years. Not one of my life coaching tools would work. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, going down the rabbit hole trying to grab on to the hands, but I just kept falling.”

Desperate for healing, Lu turned to a wide range of spiritual practices. She spent time at a Hindu ashram in Glastonbury, creating her own retreat.

“I sang kirtans in the temple, did rebirthing ceremonies, binding-the-bones ceremonies and shamanic dancing in the woods. I tried really hard to heal myself with everything I could think of. It did make me feel better for a bit because I was away from the stress of the family unit for two weeks. But as soon as I went back, I felt the same. I was in a pit of despair.”

Then one day, while driving near Bristol airport, a thought came to her: “You’ve got a motorhome. Rent out your house and go travelling.” 

Lu sensed this was not her own thought. At the time, she interpreted it as a kind of “divine intervention”, though she now sees it differently. “All the other coaches had spirit guides and I wanted them too. But now, looking back, I know God was protecting me from those dark spirits.”

I just had a sudden supernatural revelation that the Jesus of the Bible is real

Within six weeks, the family had sold many of their belongings, rented out their home and set off travelling around the UK. Eventually, they made their way to southern Spain, joining a homeschooling and digital nomad community. 

It was, in some ways, a restorative season. “That ‘sunshine sabbatical’ in Spain knitted me back together. Even though I was in deep spiritual rebellion, God still came for me, knowing that I would choose Him a few years later.”

Encountering Jesus

After returning to the UK following the pandemic, Lu slipped back into familiar spiritual environments, including women’s circles and cacao ceremonies (ancient heart-healing rituals rooted in Mayan and Aztec traditions). Yet she had begun to sense that something beneath the surface was not right. Around 2021, everything began to change.

After hearing a reference to the Bible in an online video, Lu decided to investigate for herself. She bought a Bible and began reading the book of Revelation. “Whoa! What’s this?” she said as she read the pages.

Not long after, Lu had a striking and unsettling experience while driving. “I saw a patch of dense black smoke…I just instinctively felt this black smoke had a consciousness and I knew it was evil.” This moment marked a turning point. If spiritual evil was real, she reasoned, then spiritual truth must also be real. She began searching more intentionally, and the name of Jesus kept appearing. One day, when she was watching some more online videos with a friend, there was a mention of Jesus. 

“I just had a sudden supernatural revelation that the Jesus of the Bible is real, what He says in the Bible is real and that it’s the truth. I didn’t even know the gospel yet…I just knew it was all real.”

She went on to read the New Testament, beginning a new chapter in her life. “I knew I wanted to fully repent and commit my life to Jesus…I was just weeping and repenting of a lot of sin and debauchery from my past, and the New Age stuff. My pre-motherhood rebellion was the hedonistic sin, and my post-motherhood rebellion was the New Age rebellion.”

Then came a defining moment. Lu heard: “You are my child.” It was the same voice she had heard before, the one that had guided her, now clearly revealed as Jesus.

A few months later, Lu doubted if she was fully saved, so she asked a pastor from an online Bible study how she could be sure, and he asked: “Is Jesus the Lord of your life?” Lu had to pause and consider this honestly, and full submission to Christ was a slow process. She began attending church in 2022, and has been ministering to those in the New Age ever since.

Finding new purpose

Today, Lu leads The Bridge Ministry, which began as a Facebook group reaching out to those in the New Age. It has since grown into an active community, with meet-ups, retreats and conferences, all aimed at helping people find truth and freedom in Christ.

Lu’s story is one of deep searching, profound struggle and remarkable transformation, and a reminder that even in the darkest places, God is at work, calling people into His light.

Read more of Lu’s story, and others’, in New Age to Jesus: Ten true stories of redemption, published by Malcom Down Publishing. thebridgeministry.org.uk

Words by Rebecca Hunter-Kelm