Missionary Moment: God still works miracles in prison

Our latest post was written by Amy Speake, a missionary of ours in Costa Rica. We just thought it was pretty incredible.

Recently at the women’s jail, I experienced our newest women’s jail group and was amazed at their total lack of respect during the prayer. They were joking and laughing the whole time. After my co-worker finished the prayer, I asked for them to be respectful in the future.

That day, my sermon for them was titled: “I want to be a sheep.” I began to share with them the different characteristics that were amazing about sheep and several verses in the Bible that were about sheep. One example is in John chapter 10: “His sheep hear His voice” and “He calls His sheep by name and leads them out.”

As I was talking, the Holy Spirit moved me to give a word to the ringleader of the disrespectful group.
She knew God had a call for her when she was young - God had confirmed it - but she had chosen not to be His sheep. Yet God still had the same desire for her (to be His sheep and answer His call for her life). She stopped bothering the others and looked at me with tears in her eyes.

“You’re right,” she said, “When I was a child, God showed me His call, but I didn’t want to follow Him.”

Even in jail, God was reaching out to her. God offered a new call to accept Him and use her leadership abilities for Him. Some of the inmates had New Testaments that they had been given. As she began to pay attention and take notes, she told her friends to do the same... and they did! When I gave the invitation to accept Christ, ten women, including the troublemaker, accepted Christ immediately. Another one asked to speak to me alone.

She began to speak to me about the fact that she was Colombian, that she felt alone in the country and was angry about her imprisonment and treatment. I began to speak to her about recognizing her sin and lack of forgiveness. Slowly, she accepted her role in the problem. Finally, after counseling her, she too prayed with me to receive Christ.

Everyone needs to know that God loves us and brings us to Himself with kindness. Sometimes He uses difficult times - often when we have been disobedient - to offer us a new call. To see 11 hardened criminals who changed from being disrespectful to being respectful and fervently studying the Bible, then accepting Christ as they shed tears of repentance, was simply beautiful!

If you'd like to be involved in the kind of ministry that happened at the prison, click the link below, or contact info@cfci.org.