Here’s a great picture that goes with a previously submitted article about a group of Northshore Women and their selfless work with prison inmates. It’s worth a read…or re-read!
~submitted by Carry Mattocks
Varied reactions are expressed when telling people you are involved with prison ministry… running the gamut from “that’s so neat what you do” or “I could never do that.” Many images are conjured up when thinking of women in prison… are they hardened, rough women with attitudes? Are they different than us? Yes… and no…
Yes, they are different – they’ve committed a crime and they’ve been “caught.” It’s been said “the only difference between us and them is that they got caught.” They live in a place like no other – an environment with lots of women in a confined area; many struggling to figure out how this happened to them and how they can better themselves and not let it happen again. They have to dress like everyone else, eat what’s given to them, sleep and live with whomever is assigned to them, obey lots and lots of rules and try to live with many other struggling women. Most have dysfunctional family backgrounds, parents who were bad role models, or abandoned or abused them. As Pastor Jonathan puts it – they are one of the “least, the last and the lost.”
No, they are not different - every woman in prison is someone’s daughter, maybe a sister; most are mothers, some grandmothers and they are each valued by God, just like us! Some of the inmates we have visited have been our neighbors, gone to our churches and were family friends. Most will be let out and be part of society again.
Romans 3 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Would Jesus care about these women in prison, or should we despise them because they did a bad thing? Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He was despised because he was a deceitful man, cheating people of their money and resorting to false accusations to get what he wanted. One day, Jesus visited him. The Bible makes no mention of Jesus rebuking him for his dishonest lifestyle the whole time they were together. Instead, Jesus showed him grace and honor by spending time with him. A moment with Jesus completely changed Zacchaeus’ heart. A moment with “grace in person” — without accusations, condemnation or judgment — caused an inward transformation in Zacchaeus.
Grace in person – There are women at Northshore doing just that – being “grace in person” to women in prison. Can you do it? If you know how to be a listening friend, you can do it! The women’s prison visitation ministry matches an inmate in Purdy with a volunteer who commits to visiting once a month for a year. NSB women carpool together one Sunday afternoon a month to visit with our inmate; showing Jesus cares by encouraging them in their relationship with the Lord and helping them make good choices to better themselves before they get out of prison – “grace in person.” If you’d like join us for a trial visit to see what it’s all about, contact me at carrym@nsb.org for more information or go to http://www.m2w2.org/.
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