Trudy Makepeace is reaching out to inmates and addicts.,,,
From heroin addict selling her body to becoming a church minister, it’s been a remarkable transformation for Trudy Makepeace.
Now the latest chapter in her amazing life story has been written with the release of her second book – and it’s one she hopes will help lead others from crime to Christ.
Abused, Addicted, Free already charts her 18-year drug battle, and now she has added Ministering to Addicts, to equip church leaders to reach those in the grip of drugs.
She knows where such lives, when changed by Jesus, can lead. She’s managed a drug rehabilitation home, now works as an outreach and evangelism minister for E5 Church in Bristol, and takes her transformative message to prison inmates.
After sending 1,270 of her books to prisons and 425 to outreach projects and recovery centres, the next goal is to get a free copy to 80,000 UK inmates.
She understands prisoners’ struggles, because she’s been there: “I found acceptance and solace in the arms of narcotics which quickly led me into a life of crime. Theft and fraud became my specialty, getting arrested and spending time in the cells.
“At 23 I began to sell my body, making good money until drugs took me to the street corners and into the clutches of death itself.”
Makepeace says her ministry is “marked by compassion and passion with an emphasis on hope, healing, freedom, and transformation with signs, wonders, and miracles”.
That message is being taken on the road, with dozens of visitors to her outreach events across the country giving their lives to Jesus this year alone.
She gave her own life to Christ after more than 30 attempts to beat her drug addiction. It was only after being released from prison into the care of a Christian rehabilitation home that she finally broke free.
She recalls: “I encountered the overwhelming love and presence of God. I had a revelation of God’s love for me as my heavenly Father and realised it no longer mattered that I had not known my biological dad.
“Knowing I had found the love I had always longed for, I got on my knees and surrendered my life to Jesus.
“After years of addiction, Jesus miraculously took away my desire to use, and to this day I have never had the desire to pick up a needle or a crack pipe or any drug again.”
Within five years she was the manager of the rehabilitation home, then went to Bible college.
“Filled with the Holy Spirit, I received boldness and a love for people and my reason for living completely changed.
“I experienced freedom and release from the past, learning to trust and hope again. I was privileged to be able to bring girls from broken situations and introduce them to the love and life-transforming message of Jesus.”
