I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home, with parents who constantly spoke of Jesus’s love for us. We were involved here at Watermark early on, and I went to a private Christian school, so I was surrounded by the gospel. When I became a believer at a young age, I remember thinking of salvation as this free gift. There was nothing I could do to earn it. It always struck me that God would love me so much that he was willing to sacrifice his Son for us.
Although I had that childlike faith around salvation, I still felt the need to control my day-to-day life. It was as if God handled the eternity piece, but I needed to help him with the life piece. I felt like I had to earn love and approval through achievement and performance.
A lot of what the Lord has taught me throughout my life is to step back and let him make the plans. It’s been so exciting to see what he can do with our “yes” when we are willing to fully submit to him and just ask, “What do you want to do, Lord?”
That is how serving in prison ministry came along.
It actually started pretty randomly and unexpectedly. I was watching a TV show, and there was a storyline about someone in prison whose life was changed by being shown a little love and care. It was something small, but I remember thinking, “How many people are stuck in this cycle because no one has told them they matter?”
I felt the Lord give me that nudge, so I said, “Okay, let’s go to the jails!” It sounds silly, but the Lord can use any path to awaken our hearts to his calling. I felt he was calling me to serve in prisons.
If you ask my friends, I was probably the last person you would expect to walk into a jail. I grew up pretty protected. I haven’t experienced a lot of what the people I met there have been through. I remember thinking, “Why would they listen to me? And am I really going to make a difference?”
But one of my favorite things about serving in this way is how open people are to something new. They’ve tried almost everything the world has to offer and realized it hasn’t worked. So, they are searching for other ways to live and often don’t know where to start.
We may not have the same life situations, but as humans, we all have the same ultimate desire: to be fully known and fully loved. We often believe the lie that if people really knew us, they might not love us. Some may try to earn love, like I did, through performance or achievement. Others may want to give up feeling like it’s too late. Because of our forgiveness through Jesus, we get to encourage and remind each other not to believe those lies.
A phrase commonly used in prison ministry is “the ground is level at the cross.” Romans tells us all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Not some of us. All of us. Yet, we have a savior who radically pursues us.
We talk a lot about how we are not the sum of our mistakes. God knit each of us together on purpose, and our identity is not defined by what we have or have not done. At the same time, we can’t ignore that actions have consequences. We serve a just God. But his grace is real, and no one is too far gone for it.
There was a moment after class where one of the women in jail asked if she could close us in prayer. As the other women stood up, held hands, and bowed their heads, all I could think was, “This must be a glimpse of what heaven will look like.”
No matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been, if you accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus, one day we will all get to worship together.
This season has shown me that you don’t have to feel qualified to be used by God. I definitely did not when it came to serving in prison ministry. But if you’re willing to be open-handed and say yes when he calls, the Lord can take us on the greatest adventures.
Through Re:generation in Prisons and other ministry partnerships, Watermark has opportunities for you to step into prisons to serve and share the hope of Christ with incarcerated men and women. Learn more about how you can get involved with Watermark’s Local Outreach Team and Prison Ministry.
If the Spirit is leading you to serve our church or city, but you’re not sure where to start, learn more about current serving opportunities.