Like a lot of people I grew up going to church every Sunday. I was taught what a Christian should and should not do, what they should or should not wear etc. I remember asking Jesus to come into my heart when I was around six or seven years old. What I didn’t realize until I was 27 is that God has a plan for my life. But, it’s up to me to decide if I’m going to follow it or not. However, that all changed New Year’s Eve 2000.
I was struggling with a decision I’d made. Even though it wasn’t a bad decision and I knew it was the right thing to do. I was telling God I just wasn’t sure I could do it. During all the stressing out God said to me ” I have a plan for your life, but it’s up to you to decide if you’re going to follow it or not”. I decided I would!
I told the Lord He had to walk beside me and hold my hand every step of the way. Because I had no idea what I was doing. That was the first time I knew the Lord had a plan for me and my life changed that night. I thought it was so cool that I could know what God’s will is and if I was doing it or not!
About two years later, He told me I was going to have a prison ministry. At that point I knew three people that had been in prison and had written them all during their incarceration. Unlike a lot of people, being told I was going to have a ministry didn’t scare me. I just thought I have no idea how that’s going to happen, but I’ll cross that bridge when the time comes because I knew I wasn’t ready for it yet.
One day a thought popped into my head that I should start sending letters to people in the county jail to tell them God loves them and invite them to church. I thought it was a crazy idea and something I had come up with on my own. The Lord confirmed it three times through my Pastor at the time. And I finally stepped out in faith and did it. I told the Lord, “You said I was going to have a prison ministry, if I have to start out with a small jail ministry first, I will.”
After about three years the Lord finally released me to start sending letters to people in prison as well. One day I was online looking for something on the Department of Corrections website and “accidentally” found a list of Death Row inmates. The Lord said, ” do them first, they’re the one’s that are dying.” I wasn’t sure if I was ready to deal with people on Death Row, and wasn’t sure how they would respond. Let’s face it, it’s hard to give someone hope when they will never walk out of prison alive.
That was the beginning of what is now called Hope Outreach, I’m not the only one involved in it now. I’m sure you’ll hear more about it in a future post.