VICTIMS OF FOOLISH PAST BEHAVIORS
I find myself in a large cell with twelve other men. I don't know them. I am alone and I really have no idea what is going to happen to me. I'm 44 years old, away from my family for the first time in 16 years. I miss my wife, my daughter, and my son. I worry about them and how they are holding up through all this. I wound up staying in this situation for another two months. My sentencing was finally scheduled and I was going to find out if I was going to prison or on probation. After all, I had never been in jail before and I only had three traffic tickets in my whole life!
The sentencing came and I was on my way to the Wyoming state pen. During my wait I had only talked to my wife twice and my children once. The day after my sentencing, I went before the judge one more time. This time for a divorce. My wife had decided that she could not be with me anymore and that my children could not be with me either. The stress and depression of those two events one day apart were almost more than I could stand.
I had been away from my family during Thanksgiving and Christmas and soon I would be away from them for a very long time. I needed to find some kind of solace from somewhere or go mad. I could feel myself going deeper and deeper into depression as the date came for me to be transferred to the prison. I began, like a lot of others who have found themselves in my situation, reading a copy of the Bible. It helped but I had a hard time understanding most of it. I read it from cover to cover. My favorite book was the Psalms and I found comfort there.
About three weeks before being transferred to the state prison, I was taken out of the cell and made a trustee. I had a hunch that God was already working in my life. One morning while I was waiting for a load of wash to get done, I was reading in the first part of the Old Testament and I asked God "what am I going to do now? What is going to happen to me now that my life as I knew it, was over?" I heard a voice say, "Follow Me". I looked around and I was by myself. No guard, no prisoner, no one was there, and yet I heard that voice as plain as hearing anyone's voice. I began to weep.
After being transferred to the state prison, the prison chaplain got in touch with me and I started to attend Bible study meetings. My thirst for the Word of God was growing to such an extent that I needed a more intensified study than I was getting. I asked the chaplain if there might be a correspondence course I could take in order to further my studies. He told me of a course that he was taking, and in about a month I was starting to work on my masters in Theology! This was a Godsend!!! I earned my masters while I was locked down. God had not only, as He had done with Jacob, made me forget all of the problems of my past life, He had also made me prosper in the land of my affliction!
I finished my studies at the same time that I was paroled! Imagine that!!! During the year that I was on parole, I tried to reconcile with my ex-wife and I was able to see my children for the first time in a long time. That was wonderful, however my ex-wife didn't want anything to do with me and although I kept trying, she had other plans for her life. I found a good Bible believing church and I started to become involved in various ministries through the church. I met the most wonderful Christian woman and after a short time we were doing ministries together. We went to a meeting held by the Prison Fellowship organization and we signed up to take the training necessary to begin to go into the jail in our hometown to do Bible studies. I was worried that I wouldn't be allowed to go into the jails because of my past record, but after a short investigation, I was allowed to take part in the Bible studies. Another God-send!!!!! As a matter of fact, everything that happened to me after taking Jesus as my Savior and Lord was a God-send!!!
Right before I started seeing Cindy, that wonderful Christian woman who I had met at the church, my ex-wife let me know through my daughter that she was going to get married. All attempts at getting back with my ex-wife stopped and I started to talk to Cindy and we dated for about a year. We were married and my life has not been better since! We continued to do our prison ministry and I even got to go back to the very prison I lived in to do Bible studies through the prison fellowship group. God has blessed me in so many ways. I am working at a job that pays about a third of what I used to make before prison, but we lack for nothing...God provides for all of our needs and then some!!!!
We have seen many lives changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The blessings that come from this are untold!! This is why Cindy and I take part in prison ministry. We try to make sure that others can receive the blessings that we have received.
"For I was hungered, and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick and you visited me: I was in prison, and you come unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him saying Lord when saw we thee hungered, and feed thee? or thirsty and give you drink? When saw we you a stranger, and took you in? or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." (Matt. 26:34-40)
With such a statement from our Lord Jesus Christ, we see the importance of reaching out to the poor, the lost, and the forsaken of this world. We must also remember the victims of foolish past behaviors and reach out to them also. This is why we do it, This is why we go out into the jails and prisons to try and reach the lost with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ!!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our testimony!
Be Blessed- Lee and Cindy
Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-21 is our assurance)