Restoring Our Hearts Women’s Conference

Tags

Bethel Bible Fellowship, Chains or Christ, conference, Conviction vs Condemnation, Forgiveness, Getting Past Guilt, Jail Ministry, Jesus Christ, Live It Out, restoring our hearts, Walk Worthy, women's retreat

I have been “heads  down” preparing for a women’s conference hosted by my home church, Bethel Bible Fellowship in Las Cruces, NM.  The conference was this past weekend, and what a joy it was to see God moving and working in the lives of the women who attended.  Once again, God had me outside my “box”, learning to lean into Him even more.

The audio for the event is available, along with PDF versions of the workbook at this link:  restoringourhearts.com/conference-audio/

 

When A Bud Opens

Tags

Jail Ministry Musings, Salvation

When you look at the bud of a flower, it is just a tight little green wad.  It isn’t particularly pretty, but it has the potential to be extraordinarily beautiful.

While the bud is closed, you have no idea what that flower is going to look like.  Will it be fairly plain, or will it be impossibly intricate?  Will it have lots of small petals, or a few big ones?  What color will it be?  No two are alike, but all are beautiful because all are God’s handiwork.

The Jail “Classroom”

Tags

Jesus Christ, My Testimony, Spiritual growth, Thankfulness

Teaching God’s Word to women in jail has been one of the biggest challenges in my life, and one of the biggest blessings of my life.

Psalm 37:4 says “Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  For a long time I misunderstood that verse to mean that God would give me things I desire.  That isn’t it at all.  He gives us THE DESIRES – He fills our heart with a desire to do what He has purposed us to do.  Much to my surprise, God has filled my heart with a burning desire to share His truth with women in jail.  That wasn’t something I ever sought.  God had to drag me to jail, and I’m so thankful He did.

Going To Jail… Alone!

Tags

Faith, My Testimony, Spiritual growth

I never planned on going to jail, but looking back I can see that God prepared me for it, despite my selfish unfaithfulness.  I am so thankful God is faithful, even when we are not!  He knew the exact steps I would need to take, and He directed them.  Serving Jesus Christ through jail ministry is undoubtedly one of the biggest privileges and blessings of my life.

I Didn’t Expect This…

Tags

Honesty, Prayer, Prayer team, Repentance, Thankfulness

I never expected the prayer requests written by women in jail to knock the breath out of me, but they sometimes do.  I am ashamed to say that I never expected to be challenged and encouraged in my own faith by the prayer requests of the women in the Bible studies I teach, but that happens with great regularity.

You Can’t Save Them

Tags

My Testimony, Salvation

My friend Audrey, who is responsible for me ending up “in jail”, gave me a very precious gift.  A gift I have been very grateful for ever since that day when I was about to enter the jail to teach my very first class.  Her gift to me was some wise words I have never forgotten.

But I’m afraid to go to jail

Tags

My Testimony

With great reservations, I realized God was calling me (dragging might be more descriptive!) into jail ministry.  https://theincarceratedgospel.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/how-did-that-happen/

Up to this point, my “church service” had been very solidly within my comfort zone.  I have a box, and I like my box.  Getting out of my box is uncomfortable!

How did THAT happen?

Tags

My Testimony

Like most of the women in jail, I ended up there because of the influence of a friend.  My friend Audrey asked:  “Do you want to go to jail with me?” 

I thought she had completely lost her mind!  Jail was definitely  not something I ever planned on doing or could have possibly envisioned myself doing.  Boy was she barking up the wrong tree!