Prayer Warrior Training

Prayer Warrior in Training

My name is Debbie Torkelson, and I am receiving prayer warrior training at CLI. I am a 49-year-old wife, mother, daughter, and Corporate Analyst in Southern California. I was an only child who grew up in a small suburban town and found Jesus when I was eight years old in the summer of 1979. It wasn’t until much later in life that I fell in love with Jesus at age 34.

My father is a retired Fire Captain, and my mother is retired from raising me. We casually went to church in my childhood. We fell away from the church, and in my early adult years, I lived very much in the world and almost forgot about Christ.

Therefore, I had to overcome many sins and bad choices from my young adult life: divorce; feminism (it completely corrupted God’s purpose for my life; I had to break free); materialism/idols; shame and guilt; and single motherhood.

Reconnecting with Jesus as a Prayer Warrior in Training

I finally matured and got my life together and was rebaptized on September 11, 2005. I was attending and serving at church regularly. In Southern California, it is hard to find a solid church. There are so many prosperity preaching churches where people show up and go home. It seems like the relationship part with Christ is missing. It’s more about the music, events, and non-offending services. I was here for many years, helping with Hospitality and Greeting. Watching people each week, I could tell something was missing. I found Jesus tugging on my heart about this.

I found and married my Biblical partner, who became my husband on March 22, 2019. Together we both left our prosperity preaching churches. By God’s grace, we found a fantastic Expository Church that teaches Biblical Truth into our lives every week. Now I know the Gospel, the Good News, and I pursue surrendering my life daily to God’s purpose.

Each Spring and Fall, my husband and I take classes separately at our church on Biblical Womanhood and Biblical Manhood. We are growing in Christ together and doing the work to improve our lives, as the Bible intended. In our daily life, we both spend time with God and in our Bibles. We work towards being that example of Biblical Marriage that is needed in the world today.

Future Relocation

This spring 2020, we are relocating out of California. My husband is returning home, and I feel like I am finding my home in Pine River, Minnesota. We have land with a remote cabin. Together, we are going to start a new life and pray God will grow a ministry for us in our new hometown.

We are both planning to join the local church in Pine River, which is expository and getting ready to grow. For this reason, we both felt God’s leading to relocate. When we get there, we plan to settle, to invest in, and grow relationships through Christ in this small town.

Ministry Calling and Prayer Warrior Training

In this new location, I hope to: serve in Women’s Ministry in a small and growing town, serve as Prayer Counselor at my church, and find new ways to develop my walk with Christ and my husband.

I found the Christian Leaders Institute through a friend at work who was taking classes. After our conversation, I checked out CLI. I was impressed from day one, so here I am. I need to learn and study the truth of the Bible to earn certificates. CLI will be coming with me to Minnesota – how cool is that? Anywhere, anytime, CLI and Jesus will be with me on my life journey.

Someday, I hope to mature into a Christian Prayer Counselor to anyone who crosses my path. Also, I am looking to volunteer and spend time in Nursing Homes and Hospice Centers.