LuLu Roman sings, testifies, inspires

“I am an Orphan Girl” a song of hope and testimony from the singing star LuLu Roman as she performed in Rothwell Park Sunday.

LuLu is best known for her role on the 1970’s show Hee Haw with Buck Owens and Roy Clark. But she is also well-known in the Christian music circles and is again on the rise in the charts with her inspiring singing expressing the reason. Sunday’s show highlighted many of the tunes on her new CD “Seven Times”.

LuLu interspersed her singing with old corny jokes but also with some of her personal history. She was born in a home for unwed mothers and was immediately taken to an orphan’s home where she stayed until she graduated. While the home was one with a religious affiliation and all the children received a religious upbringing, LuLu did not feel the love of God.

LuLu explained her altered definition of grace: “The empowering presence of God in our lives that enables us to be what He has called us to be so that we can do what He has called us to do … right where we are.”

LuLu said this grace might be as simple as someone taking the time to give you a friendly hello. It might be someone willing to take some time to talk with you. It might be the one who tells you of Jesus and His love.

“There is not a person on this earth who doesn’t need somebody to be grace in their loves,” she said. “I did not see a lot of grace and that grieves my spirit.”

LuLu said her last three years of high school were in the public schools and that is where she was introduced to drugs, something that made her feel better about herself, helped her to forget the taunts and the heartaches of life.

“At 15 years old, I was a drug addict and for the next 10 years, that is what defined my life,” she said. “I was told I was fat, unlovely, unteachable … but it was all lies!”

LuLu found a release through comedy. It was through this work that she was discovered by Buck Owens.

“I was the funny girl on Hee Haw. I made a lot of money and that bought a lot of drugs.”

But quoting Jeremiah 29:11, LuLu said God had a plan for her life.

She became pregnant. The father claimed the baby wasn’t his. She continued taking drugs and the doctor told her the baby would probably not live. That is when she turned to God and said, “Hey Dude, let’s make a deal.”

A friend from the orphanage invited her to church, a Baptist church, which was the denomination of the home in which she was raised. Her first reaction was, “Are you kidding me?!” But she went.

“Be careful what you say to God because He listens. Those Baptist people loved the Hell out of LuLu Roman. On April 11, 1973, I gave my heart to Jesus and He gave His heart to me.”

LuLu said she works with youth and one day a young man came and she agreed to take him in. The next day he came downstairs and presented her with a song.

“Boy, that is good,” she exclaimed.

“I know,” he replied.

“I think I should sing that song,” she continued.

“I know,” he said again.

The young man, Michael Wells, recounted to her that he had seen her on Hee Haw as a kid and the Spirit of the Lord told him, even then, that this woman would have something to do with his music, she explained.

Michael and LuLu have collaborated ever since and many of the songs on her new CD “Seven Times” were written by Michael.

“If I don’t get anything else across today, I want you to know, God has a plan for your life. You didn’t just come to hear me sing today. You are here for a purpose and you are here to worship God.”