Prison Ministry

Prison Ministry Day One

I spent all of today at a state jail. I went with a Prison Ministry. One thousand volunteers went out all over the cityto different prisons and jails to share the saving message of Jesus Christ. 

   

 My morning started with a blaring alarm clock at 5:45 AM. It was a beautiful but chilly morning, we left school at 6:45 and headed to the jail. We waited outside in a long line to give ID and go through security, then we waited in line for the elevator. There were a lot of ministry 'vetrans' who have been going into the prisons for years, they were so encouraging and informative! A few asked how I was feeling and if I was scared or nervous since it was my first time. The Lord completely blessed me with His all surpassing peace and I wasn't at all afraid, just wonderfully looking forward to meeting the women! 

   

  The jail had 10 stories with about 6 or 7 'pods' on each story. We broke up into groups of three and each group went into a pod, I was with my new, wonderful friend Katie and a precious woman named Nancy, both of them have served previously in the prison ministry. The pod we went to had 52 women and they were READY TO HEAR THE WORD! Which was SO WONDERFUL, the women in our pod are mostly all strong believers! We walked in to find all 52 woman sitting at the tables with open Bibles and notebooks, what a warm welcome! Their first words were "what are you going to bring us from the Word? What message do you have for us?" Katie, Nancy and I just looked at each other, we were supposed to have a trained speaker come in, present the Gospel to the women and then Katie, Nancy and I would answer their questions. But our speaker wasn't there and we had no prepared speech but we did have a room of 52 women ready to be fed from the Word of God. 

    I was rushing to get ready this morning so I didn't have a quiet time in my room, so on the way to jail this morning I was flipping through trying to find something about love to read, I ended up at 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. So, with all the eager women waiting for a message I pulled out my Bible and asked the women to flip to the love chapter, Alberta, a chatty, sister in the Lord said "Praise God, we were just reading there last night." I was like "thank-you, Jesus! I definitely don't have a plan but You do!" I'd read a couple of verses and then we'd stop and discuss them. After we had gone through the whole chapter, Katie started talking about how as humans none of us are truly able to live up to the standards of love in that chapter. We all fail at it but GOD never fails! His love is perfect and true. The Holy Spirit was flowing from Katie and I am so thankful that God used her to talk about His love to these precious women! 

  

  After that we had an hour and a half of praise and worship! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! These women have been incredibly blessed with vocal talent! My favorite song was when we gathered in a circle and sang and did the motions to "Father Abraham!" 

    

 At this particular jail they have no outdoor recreation, so  from the time the women enter there they never go outside again until their release date. One woman asked what it was like outside and the room got so quiet as they all looked at us with anticipation, they were so excited to hear about how it was cold, how their was a drought, and a burn ban. 

  

 We got to eat lunch with the women, a chicken patty, pinto beans, cornbread, 2 small wafers and cole slaw. After lunch was my favorite part!!! Katie, Nancy and I broke up into three groups with the women and we talked about how to witness to lost people. I went through a tract with my group and then we talked about how to answer tough questions people might ask like, "if God is so great why does He let bad things happen?" and "I don't deserve forgiveness" or "do I have to be perfect after I become a Christian?" and "what if I was saved but then I had a big sin, am I still saved?" and one of the hardest ones to answer was "My son doesn't want to be a Christian because I am and I'm not able to overcome my drug addiction so he blames God." I loved this time because it was such a beautiful time of sharing and learning about these women and their lives. Tomorrow we're going to ask them to share their testimonies with us and I CAN'T WAIT!!! 

Please be in prayer for all the volunteers, some will be witnessing to inmates on death row. It just so happens that the ladies in my pod are Christians but there will be many, many lost people in other pods who are hearing the Gospel so please pray that their eyes are opened to the glorious news of Christ!!