Encouragement

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Dear Tammy,
Don’t feel like writing today, only crying. My mom passed away yesterday. Please pray for us. She never forgave me and I never told her it was ok.
Love,



Ephesians 4 :1-2
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love....


Yesterday I received a letter from one of my inmate pen pals informing me that her mother had passed away. Often she would write about her mom and the feelings between them, praying that when she was released in 2003, her mother could find the grace to forgive her. Shelia (my pen pal) had accepted Christ thru our contacts with each other, she had began to grow as a Christian..... Seeking for forgiveness first from God, then from others. She prayed daily for this forgiveness, as I also did. Yesterday she was forced to face that her tomorrows were gone. No longer will she be able to speak those words she had replayed in her mind over and over. Her mother left this earth with both their hearts broken. Now Sheila fights for God’s grace to forgive herself for words unspoken.

Sadly Shelia’s mother was a Christian who chose not to forgive her daughter for her crime, never being able to look past the hurt of her daughter being incarcerated. How often we forget that we are all sinners. No sin is any less or any more in Gods eyes. What we do does not determine who we are, or who we can become thru Christ. Sheila had grown up believing in God and her family, however when she got caught with drugs and sentenced to a mandatory 10 years in California, then almost all those around her abandoned her. They felt ashamed and refused to write or visit her. She turned away from God because she felt He had turned always from her. After all this was not what Christians were suppose to do. This was not what she had learned in Sunday school, not what she read in the Bible. Her grandmother who is over 70 is raising her three children, praise God for her strength to stand up for another showing our Fathers love and support.

I often have acted in ways that are not pleasing to God when someone hurts me. Holding back forgiveness, judging them for what they had done. How dare I stand before the Throne of the One whom gave up Everything for me and act so selfish? How do you react around others who have hurt you? Betrayed you? Stolen from you? Broken promises? Or those in prison?

Father I pray for forgiveness, for Your grace over all my actions and words. May they always reflect You Love. May I remember where I have came from, the people I have hurt. Thank You for opening my heart to these inmates and their families. I thank you for the blessing of their friendship, their love, and their view of the world. Please keep my eyes wide open to those around me and myself. Thank You for loving me and forging me when I fall so short of Your glory. May others accept and forgive those You place in their lives. Help Sheila forgive herself, her mother and all those in her life she has not yet forgiven. Help others to see she is still Your child and You still require we love her. Thank You for loving me when I am un-loveable, and for the others who I love and love me in return. In the Perfect Precious Name of Christ I pray, AMEN

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