Breaking Down Walls

On this month's visit to the women's prison in Shakopee, MN we had a group of five volunteers go in to lead worship, share the Gospel, hear a faith testimony, and pray with the women inside. I always love when others come along who have never experienced something like this before. On this visit, it was the first time inside of a prison for two of our volunteers. One of our volunteers, Laura, wrote this to share about her experience there:

"As I sat in the back, what came to mind was how much these women just want and need love. Perhaps their desire to feel loved was what prompted the action that ultimately landed them here in prison. These women, just like all of us, need to understand just how much the Lord loves them. People will let us down, but the Lord is constant. What a blessing to be able to be touched by serving these women and being reminded that we are all the same. My favorite part was praying over them how much the Lord loves them and that this is not the end of their story.

The other interesting thing to me was in the second group, after Jamie shared the Gospel, there were two women in the back who were in need of tissue, however, they kept breaking into laughter. Every once in a while they would look over like they were thinking about coming up to be prayed for. It struck me how difficult it must be to break through the hardened walls that protect them emotionally. How wonderful this ministry is as part of the process of chipping away at their hearts in the hopes that they will give it all to Christ."