Tearing Down “Prison” Walls
I sat on the pier during a vacation, reading my Bible and watching my husband fish. A young man approached us, suggesting we use different bait. He glanced at me as he fidgeted from one foot to another and said, “I’ve been in jail.” He pointed to my Bible and sighed, “Do you think God really cares about people like me?”
Opening to Matthew 25, I read aloud that Jesus talked about His followers visiting those in prison.
“It says that? About being in prison?” Tears brimmed his eyes when I shared how God considers kindness toward His children a personal act of love toward Himself.
“I wish my parents would forgive me, too.” He lowered his head. “I’ll be right back.” He returned and handed me his tattered Bible. “Would you show me where to find those words?”
I nodded. My husband and I hugged him as we prayed for him and his parents. We exchanged contact information and have continued praying for him.
At one point or another, we’ll feel unloved, unwelcomed, in need, and even physically or emotionally imprisoned. We’ll need reminders of God’s loving compassion and forgiveness. We’ll also have opportunities to support others who struggle with these feelings. We can be a part of God’s redeeming plan as we spread His truth and love wherever we go.
~ from Our Daily Bread devotional
I was moved to tears as I sat with my coffee and read this one morning. It made me consider the personal prisons we all live in – hiding behind bars that no one really sees. We paste on a false smile and try our best to carry on.
Like that person struggling to make ends meet financially. Or that person struggling with mental illness, trying to act “normal.” Or the person struggling with overwhelming grief. Then there’s the person struggling with addiction – whether it be drugs, food, alcohol, gambling, pornography or even shopping. Each one is too proud, too embarrassed or too broken to allow the world a glimpse behind the façade.
My heart broke for the young man in this devotional when I read how his own parents would not forgive him. But I am in awe of his courage. He revealed his greatest shame to complete strangers when he told them he had been in prison. Why? Because he spotted the woman reading her Bible and knew this couple – and especially that Book – could offer him hope.
It made me wonder if we are sometimes guilty of keeping people locked in their personal prisons. Aren’t some issues easier to forgive than others? Is it fair that we often use an internal yardstick to measure the offense and decide whether that person is worthy of our forgiveness?
Think about the impoverished women this ministry serves who are imprisoned by poverty, abuse or an unwanted pregnancy. It would be so easy to judge them for their circumstances and decisions; to classify them as inferior simply because of the life they were born into.
But from someone who has received God’s grace repeatedly, I have learned not to judge another. I don’t know their story, their struggles, their prison – and it’s not my job to judge. It’s my job to love … to encourage … to help … and to share Jesus.
That’s at the heart of everything we do at Julie’s Heart Cry. To tear down “prison” walls so people – and especially women – can know their worth in the eyes of a loving Savior. To make them aware that an unborn child is still a life. To offer them meaningful job skills so they can earn a decent living to take care of their families. To provide young people with a safe environment where they can live, receive an education and go on to become productive members of society.
I pray that whatever your personal prison may be, that God will give you the strength to be vulnerable so you can receive love and encouragement – just like the young man in the devotional. And I hope you’ll come alongside us on our mission to free women from the shackles of poverty as we introduce them to the hope found in Jesus.