Francine Westgate is an inspirational speaker, teacher, and author. She is the mother of three amazing young men, and is the pastor's wife at The Bridge Community Church in Lynchburg, VA. She has been happily married to William Westgate since May 29, 1993. Together they teach couples what a healthy marriage looks like, and have helped many struggling marriages succeed by sharing their own personal experiences. In her free time, she enjoys family time, husband time, writing, studying the Word, memorizing scripture, drawing, taking walks, and riding bikes.

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In early 2001, Francine assisted in writing, This is Life and I Need More Answers. An inspirational book to help women overcome issues, such as rape, mental illness, divorce, loss, etc. In the chapter, When You’re Every Which Way but Loosed, she shares a brief account of her childhood and how she overcame the crippling effects of abuse through the power of forgiveness.

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She has her minister’s license through One Way Churches International under the leadership of Bishop Lorenzo Hall and Bishop Shantae Younger. She travels and teaches workshops on forgiveness, sharing her story in “Purple Cows, Purple Heart’s, and Purple Fence Posts,” a message she uses to empower the hurting and to help them view their wounds as a means to help others.

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Francine recently completed her memoir, In the Land of Canaan, Maine: A Little Girls Giant’s, and hopes to publish soon. The book entails her childhood accounts of sexual abuse, rape, neglect, and severe poverty in order to share healing, hope, and forgiveness with the 34 million who have suffered from sexual violence.