GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer

Louise Clarke is not just an ordinary member at the Assembly of God Church in Christiana in Manchester. She currently serves as a Sunday school teacher and as a member of the missions committee. She is also a lecturer at the Assemblies of God Bible College next to the church.

"I have always been a churchwoman. The church is my life, so there has not been anytime at all when I have not been in the church," said Clarke. Admitting that everything in life is a challenge, Clarke said with the Christian life, one does not live it alone or by himself.

"It is Jesus Christ who lives in you, through you; so you are really reflecting Jesus Christ. So you do not have that threat of saying that life is hard, so how are you going to manage. I have heard persons said that they do not want to become Christians because they might not be able to live that life," said the Bible college lecturer.

Clarke said when followers of Christ cast their cares on Him, they will realise that the Christian life is one of 'ease', because according to her, Christians are not supposed to be struggling every day, because Christ has already made a way for all His people, especially those who are in constant dialogue with Him.

comments about church

She explained that at the time when she gave her life to the Lord, she was invited to church one Sunday in Falmouth. Admitting that she was the kind of person who made certain comments about church, but at the time she got the invitation she did not hesitate to go.

"The preacher was preaching from the book of Ezekiel chapter 37, regarding the value of dry bones; and I was sitting at the last back bench; and during the service I saw a picture of myself in my mind that I was nothing; that I was comparable to those dry bone skeletons without any flesh, nothing; and I needed Jesus Christ to put the flesh on and to make me into somebody," said Clarke who has also served as church secretary and in other capacities.

She said she saw herself and could not have remained in the state she saw. Clarke said the preacher was in the middle of his sermon when she walked to the altar as a proud high-school student, who was serving at the time as head girl at William Knibb, and who had false pride.

"When I walked to the altar everything went; and I saw myself, I saw Jesus who showed me myself; and when you see Jesus and He shows you who you are, you cannot ever remain the same. I gave my heart to the Lord right there; and the pastor had to stop preaching and he and others gathered around me and prayed for me," noted Clarke who is now saved for more than four decades.

From that day on, Clarke said she has never looked back because there is nothing to look back to after accepting Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Clarke believes that all Christians should make prayer part of their life. She refers to it as "the oxygen in the life of the Christian" because Christians cannot separate prayer from their life, nor can prayer be separated from Christians. Prayer, she said, puts the Christian in touch with God and the realities around them.

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