Saturday 14 July 2012

God's love knows no boundaries

Many things that have happened over the past few months in the prison have surprised us. God is doing something new every day - there seems to be something beautiful that He does that takes our breathe away each day. Some things are very simple and beautiful in their simplicity. Others are deep and so touching.

This past week, a life outside the prison walls, came to know true peace because of someone inside the prison. 

A relative of one of the inmates in the prison came to visit her family member. While there she noticed on the list of names that another inmate was someone that she had known growing up - a childhood friend that she hadn't seen in many, many years. She decided to begin to visit him. Her childhood friend happens to be one of the Prison DTS students and after a few visits, he begun to tell her about what God was doing in his life. He wrote letters to her and also spoke to her about it during their visits.

Meanwhile, in the Prison DTS classroom, this man shared of his desire to finish reading his entire Bible so that he could give it to this childhood friend. He wanted her to know the peace that he had found. When he had finished reading the Bible once completely through he gave it to us and asked us to deliver it to his friend outside.

Looking lost and bewildered, she showed up at our home one rainy afternoon to fetch the Bible. She didn't understand why he had sent her this book, but she did know that she had seen something different in him - a hope that she herself very desperately needed. She took the Bible along with a few tracts and over the course of a few days, began to read it. 

She started asking God to reveal Himself to her and eventually, came back to talk to us a few days later. On the day that she arrived, she looked different. She didn't yet understand much of what she had read in the Bible, but she was certain that she wanted to know more about what it was all about. At the end of the evening, she prayed a prayer to ask Jesus to come into her life.

Perhaps we shouldn't be astounded that God's love is flowing out of the prison ,despite the high walls that seem to stand in the way of anything else getting in and out. After all, God's love knows no boundaries. It's just that when these things catch us by surprise, they truly take our breath away.

Our new sister in Christ (in the light blue shirt)
When asked how life has been since she made that decision just a few days ago, our new sister in Christ says: " I've never been happier." Please pray for this lovely lady who will begin to study the Bible with us this week - the first life outside this prison that has been changed by hearing the truth from someone inside. We are certain that she will not be the last.