Clean in Body and Soul

Trinity International Church (Paris, France) is an English-speaking Alliance church of around 170 men and women from about 35 different nationalities. Pastor Al and Carol Clason have led the church for the past five years, which includes time spent discipling a woman named Brenda*. Here’s a bit of her story.

Pastor Al baptized Brenda August 9, 2015.
Brenda attended church every Sunday when she was growing up in Great Britain, but as she got older, she says she “was far more interested in sneaking alcopops past my mom and puffing on cigarettes out of my window.”

The drinks got stronger as Brenda got older, and at about age 22, she started using cocaine.

Soon the party lifestyle evolved from weekends to all throughout the week. At the height of her drinking and drug-taking, Brenda had numbness in her fingers and toes, and she couldn’t remember things she had done just hours before. She developed an alcohol-induced facial twitch, and she saw spots in front of her eyes. One friend suggested Brenda go back to church, but Brenda laughed at her.

After a year or so of trying to get better on her own, Brenda asked her sister for help. Days later, her sister had moved Brenda out of her flat; taken her to church; and sent her to work with a pre-typed, ready-to-sign resignation letter.

Brenda then moved to Paris for a fresh start, but she was soon drinking heavily and taking drugs again. Over the course of that year, she came to Trinity International Church a couple of times. Eventually, with the support of friends from church, she joined a drug program, and on April 22, 2014, Brenda got clean. The following Sunday, she asked for prayer at the church and began to see the Lord’s work in her life.

“My sister couldn’t get me to stop. My friends couldn’t get me to stop. Moving to a new country and even facial twitches didn’t stop me,” she says. “But when I opened my heart and truly asked God for help, virtually instantly I didn’t even want to drink or take drugs anymore.”

Brenda joined Trinity’s women’s Bible study, where she met Carol Clason. “[She] has been such a huge support throughout this journey with constant spiritual guidance and encouragement,” Brenda says. “I have found a new happiness and peace.”

*Name changed

Pray

Brenda has now returned to her native Great Britain. Please pray that she will connect well with other Jesus followers in London.

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