Mary Renard

Missionary to France

Ministry Description

About Mary

I grew up in a non christian family and the first time i heard about God was when i was around 8. I was going to a bible club at my pastor's. I got my first bible and heard the salvation plan there but didnt really take it personal. Bible club was just a way to see my friends and have fun. Then I started to go regularly to church every Sunday and one Sunday my pastor preached about salvation and it is when it really hit me and really touched my heart personally. So I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior on that Sunday in the end of 2001. But then, I still had my friends at school, did not make too much changes in my life. I was going to church and youth group on weekends but then during the week i was the same old Mary, definitely kind of had a double life at that point. In 2004, I went to Word Of Life France camp. It was the first time i was going to a Christian camp, and there I really understood what it really meant to be a Christian and at the camp fire I dedicated my life to Christ. Word of Life France was the place that God used to help me understand what a Christian life is really about. He showed me that i had to stop fooling around and playing the card of the "Sunday Christian". The people there helped me to understand that i had to know God more, and to do so, I seriously needed to have a personal relationship with God every day with the quiet time. After my first summer there, I took the decision to get baptized the following year. Then, the following summer, I decided to go to WOL Bible Institute in NY and God deeply used that year over here to impact my spiritual life. I learned to walk with God daily, to trust Him in every circumstances, grow in my knowledge of the Word and my fellowship with others. It is really at camp and at the Bible Institute that i really got the basics of my spiritual life. I then back home in France and did my Bachelor in English for three years. In summer 2011, through discipleship meetings with a staff lady, listening to the speaker's messages and Philippians 2 v13, God called me into full-time ministry. I was accepted into a one year intership with WOL France. It was a great opportunity to see how the ministry work from the inside and it helped me to be challenged in my walk with God everyday. I was able to grow closer to God. I helped with translation work, camp registration and serving in a local Bible Club. Following this, God really put in my heart the desire to go back to the Bible Institute for second year. God has been so good! I have learned so much through being a dorm RA, discipleship meeting and classes. It has been very practical for my daily walk with the Lord, to just learn to trust Him no matter what, no matter the circumstances. He is sovereign and faithful. I love how the ministry of Word of Life impacted my life and impact lives through the truth of the Gospel!

Life Verse

Psalm 37:4-5 - "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this."