My Time in Prison

This isn’t my first time in prison. When I was younger, I ended up there a couple of times. But these past few weeks, were much different than before. It had been much more intense, more emotionally involved, and so much better.
 
I should probably let you know before I keep writing that I’m not actually staying in prison. And just to clarify, if you didn’t guess, I have never stayed in prison or been sentenced for a crime before. But it is true, when I was younger I had been to the Cook County Prison in Chicago multiple times and since living in the Philippines, have been going at least once a week for about 2 months now to the Antipolo City Jail.
 
When I was younger, I was exposed to prison ministry in an outreach opportunity I was involved in through my church called Guppets. Guppets literally means, God’s puppets. We were a team of kids, probably 10-15 of us, who would travel to nursing homes, church functions, and even sometimes prisons and perform skits with puppets and signs that had a message of the gospel with it. The times we went to the Cook County Jail, I remember being scared and worried that I wouldn’t be safe. But the minute we began performing, from behind the curtains I could hear the weeping of many inmates who  were touched by the message we were able to bring them.
 
But this experience in prison, this time, has been so much different. So much better than before.
 
Since we arrived in the Philippines, once a week, every Thursday afternoon we go to the women’s sector of the Antipolo City Jail. We spend time with a group of about 16 women from all different walks of life. Some are very young and have been there for only a couple months, while there are women who have been within the confines of that prison for over 10 years. All of them awaiting trial for things like theft and burglary, possession of drugs, distributing and using drugs, prostitution, and even murder. But the Lord is using these women.
 
They are not defined by their sentence. They are not defined by their past and what they have done before arriving there. These women are defined by their love and relationship for their Father who has rescued them from that life. He has saved them from a life of pain, hurt, abandonment, and loss. He has given them all new life (2 Corinthans 5:17) and called them to live in peace with Him (Colossians 3:14-15).
 
I know their hearts are the Lord’s because of one specific instance. Right before Christmas we had a party where we brought gifts of perfume and jewelry for them, had a dance party, (which included Gangnam Style of course), and cried our hearts out together giving thanks for everything that God has done in this past year. But what truly hit my heart more than anything was when the women told us that they wanted to perform a song for us. They moved all the tables and chairs and sang the most beautiful version of Amazing Grace.
 
I instantly broke down, with tears streaming down my face and chills running up my spine. I felt like I understood what that song truly meant for the first time. These women were literally in bondage and were stuck behind bars, praising the Creator of the Universe, who in their most low and desperate moments of life, have found a way to find life again, through Him.
 
In the short amount of time that us girls have been able to spend with them, they have taught me so much. They have taught me what true dependency on the Lord looks like, they have taught me what perseverance and patience means. And for that, I will be forever grateful to them for the abundance of knowledge they’ve shared with me.