Franchetta Dudley’s world was turned upside down at 14, when her parents unexpectedly divorced.

Until then, she’d thought theirs was the ideal family.

But not long after the break-up all hell broke loose. She discovered her brothers were addicted to drugs and she had to deal with anger issues of her own.

“Even though I was the baby of the family I had to become functionally the oldest,” said Ms Dudley, the guest speaker at Mount Zion AME church this weekend.

“I felt I had been dealt an unfair stack of cards and the pain from those traumas almost cost me my life. I battled with depression for many years.

“God had to teach me unconditional love and how to forgive. He helped me to overcome my own anger issues and used that trial to prepare me for ministry. Everything I went through required a tremendous amount of prayer and fasting. I had to develop a real relationship with God before healing really came.”

Ms Dudley, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, will share her message of hope with Mount Zion as part of its Women’s Weekend celebrations. She was invited by husband and wife pastors Jahkimmo and Lashonna Smith.

“I actually went to seminary with Pastor Jahkimmo and we graduated on the same day,” Ms Dudley said. “When his wife Lashonna came down to the US to do her seminary degree we all kept in touch and continued a great relationship. Then when they saw a ministry clip I posted online earlier this year, they reached out and said, ‘Clear your calendar, you have to come down to Bermuda’.”

Ms Dudley will speak at the Southampton church’s prayer retreat and breakfast at 8.30am today and tomorrow, at 10am and 3pm.

“All my messages will be centred around the theme for the conference which is Women Saying Yes To God,” she said. “That means saying yes to His will, His word and His way.

“This is an important opportunity for me because anytime I get the chance to share the gospel, give hope and speak life to people I know I’m fulfilling my God-given assignment. So many people are in situations where they feel there’s no hope. They feel as though God has forgotten them and they are alone in their situation but there are actually people out there who have survived worse.

“So I try to remind people this is only a test, a temporary condition and that God wants you to trust Him. He is using this situation for your own personal development and spiritual growth.”

Her salvation didn’t become real to her until she was in college.

“I was 19 years old and attending a John P. Kee & and The New Life gospel concert. I was a huge fan and still am a huge fan of his music. He was singing a song, Wave Your Troubles Away, and at that moment my whole life changed when he led me and a whole bunch of others in the prayer of salvation during the alter call.

“That song had ministered to me on so many dark days and that moment is when my walk became very practical and very real and Jesus Christ became my personal Lord and Saviour.”

The middle schoolteacher has been devoted to sharing the gospel ever since.

“Those same brothers that were addicted to drugs, whom I watched come in the house in a bad state and sometimes when they left I didn’t know if they would come back, who had our home broken into so many times, God used me to lead both of them to salvation,” she said.

“God can bring something good out of every situation. In your pain, or whatever you’re going through, is often what your purpose is birthed out of. My oldest brother, Patrick Dudley, has been clean for 12 years and my younger brother, Antonio, is now going through the process of being totally delivered from his addiction.”

Ms Dudley counts it an “indescribable blessing” that she’s been able to share her story with others and speak life into disappointing situations.

“I have a strong message of hope and deliverance and, as we speak right now, I’m working to complete my first book and launch a few other ministry programmes that I hope will bless people,” she said. “I’m looking to empower people’s lives spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally.

“At this event in particular, it’s my prayer that people would receive a life-changing word from God that will push them closer to their destiny and purpose and help them give God a complete ‘yes’ in their lives. I want them to walk away with a message of hope and healing.”

Learn more on Facebook: Mount Zion AMEC Bermuda or Franchetta Dudley. Information on Ms Dudley is also available on Twitter, Instagram and Periscope: @LadyFranchettaD.