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Isaiah 51:1 “Hearken unto me, you that follow after Righteousness: You that seek the Lord; Look into the Rock from which you are hewn, and the hole of the pit from which you were digged.”
This scripture is very significant to me since I worked in the coal mines in Nottingham England for 17 years, and then in Wyoming mines for another 9 years. It was during those years, I became a hopeless alcoholic and ultimately hit rock bottom. I felt the sorrows of death and pains of hell take hold of me and I found much trouble and sorrow.
One Sunday morning something wonderful happened. I awakened early in the morning after a night of debauchery. As I turned on the TV there was a man preaching the gospel, calling for repentance, and offering the peace that it brings. He seemed to speak directly to me asking me to turn my heart over to Jesus. He said Jesus would forgive all the blackness of my heart. So I did. I gave my heart to Jesus and made a decision to serve and follow Him. That was 1980. I continued to serve the Lord in Wyoming until I felt like I was called by the Lord’s leading in my heart to move to Seattle.

After being saved and baptized in water, the greatest gift the Lord has for us is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. In John 14:16 Jesus said, “I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it doesn’t see Him; But you know Him; for He dwells with you and shall be in you.”
This is the divine nature of God, living in us, “cleaning out the trash” and bringing the Life of God to dwell with us. He is equipping us with the Full Armor of God, manifesting what the Lord fully intended for us to be. We are his sons, declaring the love and works of Jesus Christ.
Be encouraged today, you people, for the Lord is filling His temple, His bride, His church.
John Branson

My testimony begins at 22 years old during January of 1998 in Minnesota. I was a wife, the mother of an amazing little girl, and a meth addict. I had been high for the majority of the previous six months. The turning point in my return to the Lord came at the lowest point of my life. I was digging a hole in the frozen ground of Minnesota with a slotted spoon behind my trailer on a very cold January night to bury my miscarried child. I hadn’t even realized I had been pregnant for the last three months. That same January night I quit meth cold turkey and asked the Lord back into my life. By the grace and goodness of God I never experienced any withdrawal symptoms and never used meth again! That night was the first real step toward the Lord in my adult life. Even though the grace and love of God changed my heart toward him that night my situation didn’t immediately change.
The next year was a battle because even though the Lord had begun to work in my life, the relationship with my husband had become increasingly abusive for both of us. Most nights I prayed Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” over and over again while crying myself to sleep. I had learned the verse when in Sunday school. Though the word was from a very young age, the Lord does not forget promises made to Him, even by a five year olds heart. This prayer was the start of the Lord’s redemptive work in my life. I got pregnant again and gave birth to a wonderful little boy at the end of November 1998. In January 1999 the kids and I took an opportunity to leave this unbearable situation and move to Washington with my parents. My husband at the time stayed in Minnesota.
We had been in Washington about a year when my mother found Christ the Rock Fellowship (CTRF) started dragging me there every Sunday. Every Sunday I would go up for prayer and the Lord would meet me in new and amazing ways. Even though the Lord was working mightily in my life I didn’t trust God’s people. I grew up in a church where I had been very hurt by many people who had claimed to be Christians but never exhibited what I thought was real Christianity. My hurt and mistrust of the church initially made me resistant to the love of my fellow Christian believers at CTRF. I was a brat, but the people were persistent, kind, and they loved me any way. I started to get involved, and the Lord was changing me, although not often in the order I would have liked.
I have been at CTRF for 13 years and am still a work in progress. The most important thing in my life is my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In these 13 years I have also gained friends that love me. My children have grown up in the church and are amazing. I was a single mom for the first five long years, and then God brought me my awesome new husband Chris. Now we are all growing up in the family of God, and there is room for you here, also. We would love to have you with us. It doesn’t matter what stage you are at in your walk with the Lord. Come and join us in loving the Lord and each other.
Lorena Brown