Now that he’s back in the United States after being freed from his two years of imprisonment in Turkey, Pastor Andrew Brunson has been making the rounds on the news networks, sharing he and his families struggles from his imprisonment and testifying how God was using it for good.

Brunson, a North Carolina native who along with his wife spent over two decades preaching the Gospel in Izmir Turkey before being charged with terrorism in 2016, said that when he and his wife, Norine, were first arrested in October 2016, they were “shocked.”

He went on to say that they were arrested for deportation but then were told they were a threat to national security and within a very short time it became clear to them that this was unusual and they weren’t allowed to see a consular official and they they kept for 13 days with no contact from the outside.

Brunson said, “It just kept extending and extending. We were really shocked because we spent 23 years telling people about Jesus in Turkey. We did this very openly and had never had a problem with it.” Although Norine Brunson was eventually released, Andrew Brunson was not.

“Just being in prison is pretty rough. At the beginning, I was held in solitary confinement for a number of days. That was very difficult and the way I survived that was by just by spending hours in prayer just to keep my sanity,” Brunson explained.

“Then I was kept in a cell for eight people but there were over 20 of us in there. It was very crowded. I was very isolated both by language and by culture and nationality and also by religion.”

During his time in prison, the only consistent contact Brunson had with the outside world was the half-hour each week that his wife was allowed to visit. The married couple could talk through a window and phone but Brunson said that his wife would tell him that people all over the world were praying for him.

There was much concern during Brunson’s imprisonment about the fact that he had lost over 50 pounds and seemed to be suffering mentally and emotionally.

Despite the conditions, Brunson said that he began to realize in prison how God was using his situation as a “blessing.” “This is one of the very surreal things,” Brunson said when asked about Christians in the U.S. rallying to push for his release.

“[My wife and I] are not known people. We are not very important people. We have been working in Turkey in obscurity for a number of years. Around the world, I think millions of people in many countries were praying for us. Even though this caused us a lot of hurt, I think that God has used this or was planning to use this to bring blessing to Turkey. Now there are millions of people who are praying for Turkey.”

Upon returning to the U.S., Brunson prayed over President Donald Trump in the Oval Office and asked God to guide the president and give him “supernatural wisdom.”

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) God be praised for what He has accomplished in this and how it is bringing a testimony and glory to the Name of Jesus.

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