Huckleberries: The grace behind the glamour

Christian women pay attention when former Mrs. Idaho Lonna Vopat does her modified striptease. Off comes the crown. The fake eyelashes. The makeup. Out come the falsies. Lonna’s point is that she’s the same as everyone else. And that God is interested in inner beauty – not external looks. God holds the mirror that we’re to look into. So, why is Huckleberries telling you about a Grangeville woman? If you go back far enough, you’ll remember her as Lonna Laude, the 1982 Miss Coeur d’Alene. She’s come a long way since her 1983 graduation from Coeur d’Alene High. Now a mother of three children, she battled back from drugs, alcohol, a suicide attempt and even an abortion to become a leading Christian speaker and host of a talk show that encourages women of faith, “Between Friends.” She’s also among the who’s who of Christians featured in a new book, “Speaking of Faith,” along with Robert Schuller, former baseball player Dave Dravecky and actress Ann Jillian. In a phone interview with Huckleberries Tuesday, she quipped she’s lived to tell about a woman’s worst nightmare – “putting on a swimsuit and walking across a stage after having three children” – not to mention tripping in said swimsuit and later stepping on the hem during the evening gown competition and ripping it. She compared her performance in the Idaho contest to an “I Love Lucy” episode. You can read more about Forrest Laude’s funny but humble daughter and her In His Grace Ministries at www.in-his-grace.com.