Back to Jail

I went back to jail tonight. Only this time I walked through the front door, instead of the underground inmate entrance. When I got there I checked in through security and walked a half mile down a concrete hall. My shoes were so loud on the floor. I forgot how everything echoes so badly, without fabric or even wood to absorb the sound. Every loud step I took deeper into the jail brought me one step deeper into my memory of the time I spent in county jail.
I got to my classroom and the guard let me in. The chaplain had arranged for me to speak to about 10 inmates who were in the maximum security pod of the jail. The guard said he’d be back with the women. Five minutes later he came back and told me he was sorry but they all refused to come.
I said “Maybe you should tell them this isn’t a normal church service. That I have been in prison myself.” He just smiled at me and said he was sorry that they wasted my time.
I couldn’t believe it. The first time I was scheduled to speak at the jail the Chaplain canceled because he was sick. Then he called me this morning and said he was not going to be there tonight either, I told him that was ok, that I could handle it. And now the ladies refused to come out of their cells for “church.” I started to think that maybe it was not meant to be, that God did not want me to speak to the inmates. I started to walk away.
Then I realized that it was not God trying to stop me from talking to the ladies at the jail. I turned around and asked the guard if I could go into the ward, where the inmates live. The chaplain had told me in the morning that he had checked my clearance and that I had been given ward clearance. The guard was unsure so he made some phone calls and found that I was able to go in. He took my jacket and sent me in.
Right away one of ladies came out and we sat at one of the metal picnic tables in the “day room” of the ward. Another came around and asked where I was from. I knew she meant which church or ministry, I told her I came from prison. Word started to spread and soon 5 were at the table, then 10 ladies gathered around the picnic table. I told them my story…I listened to theirs. I talked about God’s unfailing love. That it was for them…right now. We took Romans 8:38-39 and put in our own words, 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither prison nor jail,[a] neither the drugs nor addiction, nor any abusing man, 39neither loss of our kids, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There were tears as we discussed our children. We disussed what real freedom is. I told them that I was there because I wanted to give them hope. I had made it out of the pit. Not because I was strong but because in my weakness God was strong.
Before I left they asked me when I would come back. I told them I would as soon as I could. As I walked back down the corridor I felt so full of the Spirit. When I saw the sun shining through the doors I was about to walk out of, I gasped as if I had been holding my breath the entire time. I sat in my van and cried tears, overwhelmed by joy for Jesus, for the reminder of where I had come from and what He has given me that I can share. I can say for sure that no one was more blessed by what happened tonight than me.
I asked the ladies to write there names down for me and asked if it would be alright if I could post them on my blog…
As you read the list say a prayer for their souls, for their transformation and for their restoration.
Brandi Anglemyer
Rebecca Torres
Cassie Knudson
Joevon Calloway
Sabrina Schwab
Toi San Fox
Keokuk Blackmore
Cristelle Chirwa
Jessica Mitchell
Theresa Walker
Kianna Fertner
Serina Nicky
Chardae
Cassandra Grays
Ashlee
Kecoria Anderson
Yolanda Carter