A Father to the fatherless...…
a defender of widows is God in His holy dwelling!
We continue to wait on our new assignment at Lifeway Haven to be active with ladies coming out of prison. The Parole process is lengthy and very demanding with mandatory meetings and housing. We are currently attending Celebrate Recovery and Bridges to Life inside some of the female units. We have taught several classes and are over 11 women each Thursday for Bridges classes.
The topic of FORGIVENESS came up last week. We looked at the many sides of forgiveness, the need for it, God's command that we forgive, using boundaries in forgiveness. As we were bringing the topic to a close, Coach asked the ladies to look at a check list and pick one thing on the list that had this NOT been an issue for them, they might not be in prison today.
An older inmate who looked very tired and worn from her journey said, "a dad". Coach asked her to repeat that and she said a little bolder, "a dad"!. Her next remark was her stolen childhood. We knew that meant she had experienced sexual abuse as a child. She obviously did not have her dad there to protect her either. We began around the circle asking the same questions and suddenly we stopped. Nancy said, "raise your hand if you too would say you lost your childhood". There were about 18 women in the circle. All but 4 raised their hands. Wow, Coach's eyes teared up and Nancy then raised hers also. No one wants to identify with their trauma, but we do!
We were told a few weeks ago that it is wiser and more compassionate to ask an inmate NOT "what did you do to get here", but rather ask, "what happened to you before you came to prison?" There is always a beginning to negative behaviors and bad choices. It is very often PAIN! We numb it with alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, self harm, and many other ways. It's SO easy to judge and point fingers with shame at another person. No wonder God chooses best to judge and discipline because He knows ALL the facts in a person's life.
What compassion we both had has increased over and over again. We see the end results of such abuse. The challenge we face now, is leading them to the healer of such experiences. Bringing them to the Great Physician who does what meds, counseling, and human words cannot.....divine healing of the emotions, that part others cannot see, but the victim feels. How strange we are teaching them to deal with their victims and to ask forgiveness and yet, they too are victims and no one is saying "I'm sorry to them.". We all know, that to forgive, we may NEVER hear those words, but we must forgive. Last week we talked about Let go and Let God.
Tonight we will sit in the circle again and this time we plan to ask, who wants divine healing from stolen childhoods....RAISE YOUR HAND! Come Father, be a Father to those fatherless in our circle and heal the deep wounds that still cause pain and horrible memories after so many years. We need you Father, our Great Physician.
