“I WASN’T ARRESTED…
I WAS RESCUED…”
Proverbs.24.Nan.1.24.13
Nan reminds us
that there is spiritual war-fare in our lives as she shares: Help us to stand
up and be Soldiers of Love! Help us to
battle our flesh and the world and love as You love.
Wow. Soldiers of LOVE. What a challenge. As you
ponder that challenge today you must also be sure and:
Remember Jesus loves you today and so do John and Al. Have a great day
in the LORD.
“…..Please…..do not forget your
Spiritual tie.”
Comments/Insights: In vs. 29 the Lord tells us not to repay
in kind….an eye for an eye.
Opening Prayer …. Dear Holy Spirit, open our ears and
hearts to your Word. Help us to battle our flesh, our own desires. Help us to
be the men and women You have called us to be.
Basic Scripture
Truth: Verse 29: “Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to
me;
I will pay the man back for what he has done.”
I will pay the man back for what he has done.”
In
Matthew 5, right after the Beatitudes, verses 37-48 Jesus tells us not to repay
an eye for an eye…. But to love our neighbor as ourselves…to repay evil with
good. To Pray for our enemies.
Application to my Life: Is this hard? YES!!!! It is for me anyway.
My flesh goes against everything the Lord says here. AND the world agrees with
our flesh….We want to justify our retaliations… “He did it to me!” But the Lord
wants us to love, forgive, be kind and pray for them…Help me Lord!!!!!
Closing
Prayer …. Jesus, You told us
how to live, how to love… Help us to stand up and be Soldiers of Love! Help us
to battle our flesh and the world and love as You love. Amen.
Dear Faithful
Friends & Supporters,
Wow! The above
statement came from the lips of a 40 year-old inmate at the Union County
Jail. “Tom’s” story is like so many
others that we hear. In his case, he
first started using drugs prescribed by his doctor for pain about 10 years ago.
His pain was because of his injuries in
a car accident. At the time of his
wreck, he had a wife, and kids, a nice home, and even owned his own trucking
company. In every sense of the term, Tom
was living the “American dream.”
But when Tom’s injuries were healed, and
the pain was gone….the drugs would not let go.
He was addicted. That began his
horrible journey of a life of misery; for Tom, and for all of those around
him. As he sank deeper and deeper into
the life of a drug addict, his life began to crumble. His business suffered and eventually
failed. He would eventually lose his
nice home too.
Tom’s wife fought a valiant fight to save
her husband, and her marriage. She loved
him without question, but could not survive with his new “mistress.” She even told him that if it was another
woman she was up against, she could win; but, not against this. Eventually, Tom would lose his wife and his
kids.
Tom wrote, “I will never forget my
beautiful, sweet wife pleading with me, saying, ‘If you loved ME enough, you
would quit. It’s me or them.’ But, it was never a question of “love.” I loved her with all my heart. But, I just couldn’t let go of the
drugs. They had me in their grip and
would not let go. I tried many times,
but always failed. It broke my heart
because I loved her and my kids so much, but I didn’t know what to do. I had been through several rehabs, but
always went right back to the drugs. I
was broken and ashamed. I even cried out
to God for help, but nothing ever worked.”
Tom’s life of drugs eventually led him to
a life of crime. With no job, he turned
to stealing and selling drugs to keep up his heroin habit. He was arrested and lost his freedom several
times over the years. Then, he was
arrested in Union County. He was so
strung-out on heroin, and for so long, that he could not keep any food down for
nearly 12 days and spent about a week in the hospital due to his withdrawal.
“During that time, I prayed to die, and I
really meant it. But after I got over
that, my new cellmate told me about Life Skills. I had heard some good things about it, but
was not into ‘religion.’ But, my
bunkmate mentioned it again, and I felt something drawing me. I was so desperate, and hopeless; and all of
a sudden I felt that I had to get into this program.”
When “Tom” walked into E block, he looked
like he had been in a gang-fight; and his gang didn’t show up. But, within a couple of weeks, he was alert,
asking questions, and even smiling at times.
Then, one day, he gave it all to the Lord. Tom wept as he poured his heart out to God in
total remorse and repentance. I was
amazed at the transformation that took place in him.
As he left to go to DOC to serve his
sentence, he left with a huge smile on his face. His final words to me and the class were, “Chaplain
Wally, you tell everyone that has anything to do with Safer Communities
Ministry, that I said, “THANK YOU! Thank
you for rescuing me. I wasn’t just
arrested, I WAS RESCUED. The drugs would
have killed me, but now I feel the freest, and the best I have ever felt in my
life. Thank you.”
*********************************************************
Dear friends, this is just one story among
many of transformed lives. Thanks to you
who pray for us and help us financially, we will continue to reach out to those
who have lost all hope—both inside the jail and prisons, and those who are now
out.
Would you please PRAY about supporting
us financially? We need your help to
keep this ministry going for the glory of God.
No matter how small the offering, God will bless you and this ministry
because of it.
Please PRAY also about the SCM ANNUAL
BANQUET on Saturday night, May 4th!!
Our guest speaker will be Dr. Jeff LaBorg. Please mark your calendars and make plans to
attend this exciting time of praising God for what He is doing in our midst. Your support is GREATLY appreciated!
Please PRAY for
our Addiction Recovery Ministry (ARM) on
Tuesday evenings, and for our mentoring program.
PRAY for
Chaplain Sharon Carter as she ministers to the ladies each week. And for Bob Elzey who does the jail book cart
and takes care of many of the requests from inmates.
PRAY for the
many volunteers who come into the jail to do weekly Bible studies at night and
on the weekend.
Finally, please
PRAY for our Columbia Crusades in March, June, August, and December! We want you to COME GO WITH US! (Just call the office at 704-283-3573 or
email me at: wally.gilmer@gmail.com.) God bless you!!
Because
ALL need to hear,
Wally
Gilmer
Wally
A. Gilmer,
Executive
Director
No comments:
Post a Comment