NOT BY CHOICE BUT BY DESIGN PART 2
Revival services are over, but I pray that God continues to work in everyone´s heart that participated, especially mine. Isaiah 55:10-11 says, "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
Eleven women got saved on Friday night, and nine women got saved on Saturday night. Praise the Lord! Saturday morning and afternoon the Pastors´wives taught four Bible studies on the theme "Passion for Purity." As I sat through the Bible studies and the Revival services, I looked around me, and tears came to my eyes. Before coming to prison, I looked my best sitting in church surrounded by my family and fellow Christians. I never once wondered about someone´s past, whether they were struggling with sin, or what was going on in their life. Back to prison: sitting through the preaching and looking around me, I couldn´t stop the tears. I was sitting amidst fellow felons, murderers, thieves, child abusers, drug dealers, drug users, prostitutes, and of course all of us were sinners. Sin isn´t hidden amongst inmates. It is in your face 24/7. And yet knowing all of this, I just saw faces that Jesus died for. There is no sinner that is too great for God to save.
Back to our church: If a murderer sat down beside me, what would I do? What if it was a prostitute or a lesbian? Would I hide my children and try to avoid them? When did I forget that I´m a sinner, no better than them? Boy, did God shake me up over the past two days. I don´t want to forget that every person is a sinner who God loves so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in their place, and this includes me.
One of my roommates, who was a big drug dealer, said to me "Joy if you had seen me on the street, you would have never spoken to me." This broke my heart as she was so right. Romans 10:13-14a says, "For whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" How are these women going to hear the Gospel if I avoid them or refuse to talk to them? What a wicked, self-centered, and prideful heart I have, but God is chipping away at it little by little. May I never forget what God has shown me tonight.
Joy
Eleven women got saved on Friday night, and nine women got saved on Saturday night. Praise the Lord! Saturday morning and afternoon the Pastors´wives taught four Bible studies on the theme "Passion for Purity." As I sat through the Bible studies and the Revival services, I looked around me, and tears came to my eyes. Before coming to prison, I looked my best sitting in church surrounded by my family and fellow Christians. I never once wondered about someone´s past, whether they were struggling with sin, or what was going on in their life. Back to prison: sitting through the preaching and looking around me, I couldn´t stop the tears. I was sitting amidst fellow felons, murderers, thieves, child abusers, drug dealers, drug users, prostitutes, and of course all of us were sinners. Sin isn´t hidden amongst inmates. It is in your face 24/7. And yet knowing all of this, I just saw faces that Jesus died for. There is no sinner that is too great for God to save.
Back to our church: If a murderer sat down beside me, what would I do? What if it was a prostitute or a lesbian? Would I hide my children and try to avoid them? When did I forget that I´m a sinner, no better than them? Boy, did God shake me up over the past two days. I don´t want to forget that every person is a sinner who God loves so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in their place, and this includes me.
One of my roommates, who was a big drug dealer, said to me "Joy if you had seen me on the street, you would have never spoken to me." This broke my heart as she was so right. Romans 10:13-14a says, "For whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" How are these women going to hear the Gospel if I avoid them or refuse to talk to them? What a wicked, self-centered, and prideful heart I have, but God is chipping away at it little by little. May I never forget what God has shown me tonight.
Joy
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