Restoring Our Hearts Women’s Conference

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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/

 

Letters to God #10 by Dana – “Forgiveness for 4 counts of attempted murder”

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Addiction, Consequences, Conviction, Dana C, Forgiveness, Grace, Inmate Testimonies, Jesus Christ, Letters from inmates, Repentance, Spiritual growth, Testimony

Dana has written several “letters to God” – you can see them here. 

Dear God,

Thank you for another beautiful day in such an ugly place.  How ironic that I had to come to the “concrete jungle” of chaos and noise to find joy and inner peace.  Because it’s true, O Lord, I’m happier than I’ve been in a long while in one of the most unhappy places on earth.  For I laugh more than I have in years.  I smile almost constantly, and I wake up without guilt or sadness from the turmoil of my once lethal life.  Don’t misunderstand me Lord Jesus.  I know why I’m here and I haven’t forgotten my journey or just how many miles I need to go on my road trip to eternal life.  I just mean that finding You, the peace of the Holy Spirit, and accepting You as my Lord and Savior has done wonders for my soul and has made it easier to enjoy the simple things, see the big things and know what’s important.  So even though I’m fully aware that I’m incarcerated facing 40+ years, housed with other women deemed dangers to society just like me, I can appreciate that I’m happily sober, relieved to be safe and alive and sometimes overwhelmed with the beauty of Your love and enduring forgiveness for sinners like me.  So as my pod-mate says, “Lord, you really do have a sense of humor, and You work in mysterious ways.”  Praise God!

Dirty Tables by Erika

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Conviction, Erika, Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Testimony

This was written by one of “my girls” who gave her life to Jesus Christ while she was in jail.  You can read her testimony here.  I love this story, because of her humble heart and willingness to be obedient in a situation where most of us would have probably ignored God’s prompting and had a long list of rationalizations.  I am so blessed to count this beautiful young woman as a friend.

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DIRTY TABLES

I was working as a hostess at a restaurant.  It was late, and we had three tired servers and one sleepy hostess, me.  We were just finishing up with the late night rush, and we were relieved that the flow of people was finally over.

Then a large group walked in. They pointed to a large, round booth that they wanted to sit at.  It was open and clean, so I had no reason to object.  I seated them and let them know their server would be with them shortly.

Letters To God #7 – “Ointment for My Wounded Heart” by Dana

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Addiction, Consequences, Dana C, Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus Christ, Letters from inmates, Repentance, Salvation, Testimony

A woman named Dana has been sharing her spiritual journey through a series of “Letters to God”.  You can find her first letter to God here.

December 2014

Dear God,

Lord, I still painfully walk through my days with so much baggage still attached that I don’t know how to shed.  It weighs me down and makes it hard for me to walk my spiritual path with a genuine and pure heart.  I pray that with the guidance from the Holy Spirit and the help and counsel of spiritual mentors this will lead me to break these chains of sin and free me from my pain.

Forgiving the Unforgiveable – Part 5

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Forgiveness, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Obedience, Repentance, Sin

Jesus taught all who follow Him to specifically pray that God would forgive us based on our forgiveness of those who hurt us.  That means if we are unforgiving, we are praying that God be unforgiving to us!  That is a very scary thought!

Forgiving The Unforgiveable – Part 4

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Forgiveness, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Obedience, Repentance, Sin

We may believe that we can’t forgive someone who harmed us until we “feel” like forgiving them.  But there is one big problem with that… because of our sin nature, we will never FEEL like forgiving.

Forgiving the Unforgiveable – Part 3

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Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Sacrifice, Worship

We may have the idea that if we forgive, we are somehow saying that what the person did was not hurtful.  We may think that offering forgiveness is making light of the damage that the person did, implying that the pain we went through is not significant.  The problem is… this belief leads to a very significant problem, because it will prevent us from ever forgiving.

Forgiving the Unforgiveable – Part 2

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Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Obedience, Sin

Our forgiveness does not change the world’s justice, and it does not change God’s justice.  Forgiveness is laying down the right we think we have to judge the offender, and turning it over to God, letting Him be the Judge and letting Him deal with the other person.

Forgiving the Unforgivable – Part 1

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Conscience, Forgiveness, Guilt, Justice, Sin

The last two studies on forgiveness focused on Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness, and His living example of forgiveness.  In this study, we are going to look at some common misconceptions, deceptions and lies about forgiveness, and counter them with God’s Truth, using a “case study” from the Chardon Ohio school shooting in 2012.

Christina’s Testimony (don’t miss this one!)

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Christina M., Forgiveness, Gospel, Inmate Testimonies, Jesus Christ, Testimony

Preface from Jodi:  There is nothing I love more than watching God work in the lives of women in the jail.  I asked Christina if she would share her testimony, and she graciously agreed to do that.  I pray you will be touched by the story of God’s redemption in the life of this woman, and give God all the praise.

“He made my dream come true”
The testimony of Christina Martinez, Prisoner #14-00844