He had taken me into a jail full of undressed, foul-mouthed, leering men when I was about 10 years old and the experience left an indelible memory on my young mind. I'm sure that he wasn't thinking about that. I'm sure he knew that he had everything under control. I'm sure like most men I know, that he didn't think about lasting impressions of a young daughter. I forgave him for it a couple of years ago, finally.
I did, however, trust that the Lord knew what I could handle and we are instructed to go into the prisons and preach the gospel and to be ready in season and out of season, so....
The first time I went in, I was fearful of what the prisoners could do to me and I was a bit uppity and feeling much better than they were because I was not in jail. I didn't commit the sins they did. I was judging the socks off of these wonderful women.
Wow, was I brought to my knees in a hurry! Not only did God put me there, the women I came into contact with, showed me immediately that most of them knew more than I did about God's Word. They wrote beautiful hymns and praise songs. They could quote chapter and verse of lots of Scripture. They could pray like any prayer warriors I have ever heard. It didn't take God long to get my pride turned around to humility. I am so grateful He did it quickly. I would have missed out on so much, if He had taken His time.
Over the last few years I have been into the jail probably 40 or so times. Most of the time with another person or two with me, but this last month, I was by myself and I think the Holy Spirit used this time to quietly guide His women toward more peace in their circumstances. He is using these particular women to care for others in their area of influence. This month has been a time of learning to release worldly thinking for heavenly thinking. It has been a hard time of letting go, but hurdles were crossed.
These particular women were so open to hearing what God had for them that it really humbled me, even more. I get so used to being on the "outside" and only hearing about how much trouble it is to get up on Sunday morning to go to church or in my case, to get around and leave my house to go to a home study group (I don't, but need to do so) or how bad our week has been. Compared to what these believers go through on the "inside," we really need to rethink our priorities and learn to be joyful in our circumstances.
I was given to understand that one of the hardest things to do in their group cell is to pray and "love your neighbor" while retaining the toughness required to survive the constant judgments of some of the other inmates. It would cause disharmony at times and so was easier to do whatever it takes to get along. There is constant backstabbing and complaining.
So on one hand is the admonition of Jesus to be a peacemaker and on the other, to swallow their pride and walk that line of re-presenting Christ to the lost souls causing the problems. Both are instruction from God's Word, but as you can see, not always cut and dried or easy to do.
As the month went by, the Holy Spirit lead us from discovering that we all go through tribulations by reading a couple of chapters in Lamentations and applying it to our own situations, then realizing that Jesus had given up His life to give us a way out of our sorrows and give us hope. Then on to learning that we each have a gift from God and that we are to study it, learn how to use it best and then apply it to our personal ministries. The month ended up discussing depression, prayer, trusting God and other things that the Spirit had for each person there.
I pray that each woman in that room was able to "hear" her personal message from her most gracious heavenly Father! I continue to pray that each one receive their own special Scripture from Him and that God continues to show each one how beautiful and special they are to Him. And finally, I pray blessings on each one and ask for God to give them strength to get through and justice in their circumstances. In Jesus Name, Amen.
As you go through your day and all of the hardships it brings in this time of raising kids, job loss, higher prices, etc., please keep the prisoners in your prayers, always remembering that their sin is no bigger than yours in God's eyes. Repentance is the key, not the size of the sin. We all must pay consequences for the choices we make, but ultimately God is the final judge, not us.
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