Brenda Breeden-Ortiz is a choir member and a volunteer in the Less Than The Least ministry. She started out on a path that would lead her to these ministry places, but the route got a little rocky along the way.
She remembers the early days of Sagemont Church because her parents, Bob and Barbara Breeden, are charter members. In fact, Brenda remembers church very well because her parents’ living room was the first Sagemont Church worship center.
As the church grew, so did Brenda. Brother John led her to Jesus at age seven and she was baptized in the Sagemont Chapel. Brenda said, “This is where I grew up and where I learned about Jesus.” She remembers scripture she learned as a child and quotes Proverbs 22:6 and claims it as her life verse, “Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Why does she claim this verse as her life verse? She claims it because she is a prodigal. She recalls the love of her home and her church family. She also recalls that at the age of 30, she dabbled with drugs and became a slave to them.
“Drugs make you a slave to the enemy of Christ…you become a slave to Satan,” she said. The Bible says that Satan seeks to kill and destroy - destroy trust, destroy families, and ultimately, destroy the person. While a slave to this addiction, Brenda said that she did the things women do to feed their addiction. And, living in that environment, she said that she also experienced the things that happen to women living in that lifestyle.
Away from those early years of living in the love of her family and church family, she knew only darkness and found herself in an unending cycle of rehab, prison, and then life back out on the streets.
While serving a drug addiction and the master of all that destroys, Brenda also opened her mind to the things that are not of God. As she spoke about her past state of being, she recalled the scripture in the gospels where Jesus encountered a man possessed by evil spirits and noted that she can relate from personal experience. “Spiritual warfare is real; I know that well. Jesus said that when one spirit leaves, it finds more and comes back and if your mental house is not in order, you are worse off than before,” Brenda said.
She recalls that she did not have the faith in Jesus to believe that she could overcome her situation. “I would go to rehab and work hard to recover and would do well for a time. However, when I left rehab, I would fall and would do much worse. “I lived in this addiction, in and out of rehab, in and out of prison, for nearly 16 years,” she said.
What finally turned things around for Brenda? “It was the tough love and prayer of my parents and of my church,” she said. “I put my parents in a position where they had to file charges against me and see me be arrested and placed back in prison,” said Brenda. She noted that this time, the moment the handcuffs were placed around her wrists, she knew that this was the last time. She knew she was free of the addiction and the spirits that tormented her.
This time she had a Bible in her hand when she arrived at Pine State Jail. She was placed in the “Faith Dorm Program,” which she calls a miracle of God at the request of a praying church family. Prisoners can join the Faith Dorm Program only by signing up; Brenda had not signed up. There was also a long waiting list of people who had signed up. She recalls that at one point she had to leave the program when the guards realized their error. However, she was reinstated in the program. Brenda said, “God put me back in…God put me there.”
Interestingly, Sagemont’s Less Than the Least ministry volunteers were frequently at Pine State Jail ministering to the ladies there. Brenda recalls that it was both a blessing and a shameful experience for her to see those she knew from Sagemont.
As she watched the ladies in the ministry program, she started feeling the call back to worship, and she noticed the emptiness of her soul. She said, “I saw these women, I saw that they had a light inside them and I wanted it badly.” She reflected that she wondered why she didn’t have the Holy Spirit and in the moments she wondered about it, she started worshipping God and realized that the Holy Spirit was indeed leading her to worship. She noted that worship did not include music or preaching in those moments. It truly was all about the God of Heaven and the Christ who was willing to save her soul from the torment she had lived in for so long.
In that time of worship, she made a commitment to God - a promise that when she left the jail, she would return to church and would immediately get involved in service.
She loves the choir - something she learned from her mom and dad who have spent many years in the Sagemont choir. She kept her promise too. “I got out of jail on a Monday and Wednesday night, I was at choir rehearsal,” she said. She also became involved as a volunteer with the Less Than the Least ministry and says one of her favorite things about going into the prisons to minister to women who are in a place where she used to be is that she gets to leave!
What is the difference for this prodigal? How is it that rehab and prison are things of the past? Brenda said, “It isn’t hard any longer. I have plugged into Sagemont recovery programs, but more than anything, I fill my mind with Christ. He lives in me now so there is no room for anything else.”
After hearing Brenda’s story, there may be some reading this article who are wondering how her parents held up through all those years. Have you ever wondered about the prodigal’s father who stood watching, waiting for the return of his son? How did he handle the stigma of a child who left his way to go to riotous living? When asked about it, Brenda said, “My parents felt shame because of me, but they didn’t let that stop them from reaching out to the church family. They could have feared the judgment of other Christian believers. But that is not what they found. They found the love and prayer support of an amazing church family. Brenda reflected, “They had a family of faith who prayed with them constantly for me. I really believe that is how they were able to stand firm.” She went on to say that her parents practiced tough love. Although she would not admit it in the moment, she now knows that her actions put them in that place. “I stole from them,” she said. “They would no longer allow me to come home. I had to go to rehab. I know it was hard for them to call the police, but prison didn’t hurt me. In fact, I am here because of the ministry I received there.” Families are not alone in this. Brenda said, “My parents raised me in the church, they trained me up in the way I should go. Now, when I am older, I will not leave. This is my testimony.”
Brenda is married to Trini Ortiz, a trumpet player in the Sagemont orchestra. While Brenda was in jail and the Lord was reclaiming her, the Lord was also working on Trini. They both said that although the road through that time of life was very bumpy, God has healed their marriage.
What are the takeaways from this testimony?
1.There is one who seeks to destroy and one who seeks to restore. Brenda has learned to protect herself by filling up her life, her heart, her mind and her soul with Christ who is the one who restores.
2.Brenda now understands that Christ has the power to overcome all things. The one who destroys will say you are defenseless. All things are possible through Christ Jesus.
3.The tough love of parents can save the life of their child. It is not easy, but Brenda says her parents’ tough love and prayers saved her life.
4.The Breedens reached out to the church family. They realized they were not alone. Although they felt embarrassed, they dealt with it and found the love of a praying church family - not the judgment most would have thought they would find.
Brenda concluded, “I cling to the verse of Proverbs 22:6 because I have seen its reality lived out in my life. I am thankful for a loving family and a loving church that trained me in the ways of God. I did turn my back on them, and I am not proud of that, but I thank God every day that I have come home. I have returned to my faith, my family, my husband and my church. God is good and I am grateful.”