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Brandi Courville

Prison time changes life of aerobics instructor

By Melissa Hargrave
When Brandi Courville was imprisoned in 2009, her life had hit an all time low. It was there that Brandi surrendered herself to God, and transformed her life of crime into an inspiration for many.
By the time she was 22 years old, she was already a mother of four children. Courville began to feel as though she had lost her identity, a feeling that is commonly experienced from time to time during motherhood.
Disoriented amidst the hustle and bustle of parenthood and married life, Brandi struggled with her emotional health.
At the age of 24, she suffered a nervous breakdown which eventually led to losing custody of her four young children.
In order to cope with the emptiness she felt, Brandi turned to substance abuse. It wasn’t long before she began to make a living by ways of prostitution.
Over the course of the next six years, Courville survived three drug over doses, was beaten and left for dead, and had multiple altercations with the law. She was given probation, for various different offenses, and failed to follow through.
As a result, in 2009, Brandi was sentenced to three years in prison.
During the first half of her incarceration, she was bitter, angry, and had so many questions about how her life ended up out of control. It was during this time of deep reflection that she attended a revival hosted by InnerFaith Prison Ministry. Influenced by this discipleship, her life was turned over to God.
“At that point,” Brandi explains, “this began a different outlook in my life. I told God that if there was anything He could do with what was left of my life, He could have it. From there, I changed. I started healing on the inside. I started to admit that all the things I had done were my fault. I took responsibility for all of my actions, for the first time in my life.”
Courville knew this wasn’t a quick fix or a patch, but a deeply spiritual new beginning given by God - a clean slate.
As she began to further her individual relationship with God, He spoke to her through prayer and promised to restore not only her reputation but, more importantly, her relationship with her children.
Upon release from prison in 2011, she decided it was too soon to return to her hometown of Kaplan. Feeling as though she had done too much harm here, and that her best chance at continuing a pure and sober life lay elsewhere, she relocated in Lake Charles. There she started a new life, and reached out to her children. It was difficult waking up every morning in a city where she hardly knew anyone, but God gave her the strength to remain there and continue her personal transformation. In order to convince anyone that she had changed, her life needed to be a testament of those changes.
After nearly two years, the Lord call her back home. In December of 2012, she began a new job at Suire’s Grocery. It was there she met her husband, Josh Courville, a loving and supportive man who is referred to as her rock.
Although her life had dramatically improved, Brandi felt she had more to give. Ever since her jail cell conversion, Courville felt that God had a purpose for her, and she now prayed that His plan would be revealed.
While training in Lafayette to become a certified aerobics instructor, she became more attuned to the wide spectrum of women surrounding her and the various ways she could lend them support.
After everything she had been through, she was compelled to help all women, everywhere, in any way she could. Starting out slowly, she began reaching out to women in her church and community, empowering and advising them in their individual needs. While teaching aerobics at Olympus in Kaplan, she used her classes to promote not just physical fitness, but spiritual and emotional health as well.
This year not only marks the sixth anniversary of Brandi’s life reboot, but it also represents a new opportunity in her life.
She has recently opened Chica Fitness Studio in Kaplan, located on Main Street. The business will not only offers a wide variety of aerobics classes, but it also features a monthly bible study.
Courville already has a core group of ladies surrounding her, but they are hoping to reach out further to all the women of Kaplan and surrounding areas. Her intent is for this to be a place without judgment, where women can meet and open up about life’s problems to empathetic ears. She always knew that God would use her somehow to minister to women, she just didn’t realize that He would use aerobics to do it.
Brandi sums up her motivation beautifully by saying, “Looking back on my life and seeing where I am today – I shouldn’t even be breathing right now. Now, I depend on my personal relationship with God. Now, failures become ways to achieve. Now, everything that is set before me is something to take me a little bit higher or a little bit closer to where I need to be.
“I don’t see a challenge as something there to take me out. I see it as something that is going to make me stronger. I’ve overcome so many things, that I don’t see how I can’t overcome anything. All this has made me the woman I am today.
“Everyone has a choice. You can choose that this problem will push you out or push you forward. I want to give back to the community now. I want to give back by empowering women in every single area of life, not just physical fitness, so they too can become all that they are created to be.”
Courville has this advice to offer women, “Don’t base your future off of anything that happened in your past, or what anyone else has to say about your future. Take every challenge or obstacle as a way to prepare you for your future. Know that there is a bigger picture than what’s actually happening. My favorite quote sums it up: She believed she could, so she did.”
Brandi and Joshua Courville have a blended family with five children: Emily Laseter (21), Hillary Romero (18), Claire (16) and Benjamin (14) Landry, and Chase Courville (15); as well as two grandchildren: Davon Laseter and Savian Stelly.
Brandi Courville is the daughter of Roslyn Vallo, and granddaughter of Grettle Saltzman and Harris Vallo of Gueydan.

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