Prison Ministry

I signed up to be part of the ladies prison ministry, but very clearly stated that I was a support person ONLY. I'll be a second person in our team of 2 per pod, would pray, bring music, etc...but I do not want to teach. Oh yeah, I knew my limitations and what I was willing to do, and not to do. HAH!! As so often happens, God had something else in mind. Which led to today, me going to the prison pod, not only totally alone, but leading. For the second time. Reminder to self, it's not a good idea to tell God what you can and can't do!

The first time I soloed I spoke about Rahab, then gave my own testimony. Wanted them to know that God doesn't just work in the past, but is still at work in our lives today. Afterward several of the ladies were crying and came up and just wanted a hug. It was a changing point in how I viewed the prison ministry. They were no longer just inmates...they were people, people like you and me, people that need our prayer. We bonded that day.

Today, I once again felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of teaching them. Who am I to teach anyone anything? Me, who struggles daily with doing the next right thing. But isn't that pride, thinking that I am the one teaching? Turned it over to the Lord. Asked Him to lead through this weak, earthly vessel. And He showed up...in a mighty way! The lesson was on our words, how we have the power of life and death in our tongue. We all took turns reading verses from Proverbs on our speech. I encouraged them all to use their words this week to build each other up, to find the time to write something positive about each other and share it. We had "positive night" in recovery where each of us in the group had to write something positive about each person in the group. I still have those bits of paper with what the others wrote about me. In a world that is so full of negativity, and in jail, where the positive is hard to find, I encouraged them to do the same for each other this week. God spoke the world into existence...talk about the power of words! May I be aware of the words I use this week, may they uplift, encourage, guide and show love. Several of the ladies told me how timely this lesson was and thanked me for coming. One lady said she is always glad to see me come, because I just sit there with them and speak from my heart, very open and letting them know this is what God is teaching me and I'm just sharing it with them. (some of the leaders stand up in front of them and "preach" and boy they do it well!, but that is not my style)

Passed out prayer/praise requests to the ladies. They all filled them out and I promised them I would pray for them this week. Came home to read them, and just sat there crying and praying over them. So many were prayers for their children as they are away in jail. I'm a mom, and I can't imagine how hard it would be to be locked away from my kids, hoping and praying that they were doing ok. One lady put down as a praise that someone brought her little girl and she got to see her. I now have names of many of them so can pray by name for them. Was overwhelmed not only with their reality, regrets and hope for the future, but by the grace that the Lord has shown me in my life. We had started the hour with some praise music, ended it with the song "Unwritten." I left them with the thought that the rest of their lives are still unwritten, it isn't "I was in the county jail...the end." To use their words carefully and go write the rest of their story!