For thirty-seven years I’ve been in darkness
I was a wanderer in the wilderness on the path to destruction for thirty-seven years. Since Jesus came into my heart He has brought me out of darkness to His light. I’ve been drinking the world’s water but now I know it is God’s water that really satisfies. It has given me peace even in jail. It’s given me strength to go forward and it’s given me joy in the midst of my situation. Looking over my life without God, I realize that the spoiled bread I was eating didn’t satisfy me at all. I was always empty even when living in luxury. But now I’ve started taking small bites of the true Bread of Life and how much different I feel, even while in jail! I have peace, joy and wholeness. When Jesus told his disciples to ‘gather up the leftovers – let nothing be wasted’, it brought tears to my eyes ‘cause a lot of times I feel abandoned, left over here in jail. But Jesus said ‘Gather them up’ – meaning gather me up. Nothing in my life is wasted to Him, including my time in jail. – Stacy
I Was Stuck In A Vicious Cycle
I grew up in Concord, CA in a middle-class home. I started using drugs at around 12 years old with one of my friend’s older brothers who used to watch my sister and I when my mother would go out. By the grace of God I graduated high school but by that time I was already addicted to meth and had done most of the other drugs around that time. After high school, being addicted to meth I had been kicked out of my mother’s home and ran the streets with my friends who were going down the same path as I was. We got into everything that went along with using: drug use, drug selling, gang activity, gang violence, in and out of jail, all types of criminal activity. God really started working on me when I was in jail. I believe my first Christian experience was in West County jail at a church service that I attended just to get out of my cell, although when I was released from jail at that time I picked up right where I had left off and spent many more years doing the same. I was stuck in a vicious cycle that I thought had no end, and that was how I was going to spend the rest of my life and at one point I even became OK with that.
Years later in 2006 I was arrested for second degree burglary. I was absolutely exhausted from the lifestyle that I had given myself over to and I remember crying out to Jesus saying, “Take this lifestyle away from me I don’t want it anymore, please if You are really out there, then I’m ready!!” About a month later at a Bible study held at the jail where I was (in Sutter County) the man who ran it asked if anyone of us wanted to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior if we would stand. I stood up and he led me and the others standing in a prayer of salvation and I became born again. I was released about another month later with only the clothes on my back. All my other possessions had been stolen while I was incarcerated. My mother let me come to stay at her home and two months later around Christmas I felt the Lord tugging me to go to church. I went to church and when I got there they were worshipping and I felt the Holy Spirit and knew that I was at home. The Lord completely delivered me from drugs and alcohol as I put Him first in my life as Lord of my life, which is the key, He gave me everything that pertains to life and godliness. Now I am married to an amazing woman who loves the Lord, I own a home, have a career as an auto technician, and an absolutely amazing life through my relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord. Currently my friend Josh and I have an outreach ministry where we go into the highways and byways to reach the lost ones like we once were and see our God show up every time we go. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” Phil 4:13. - Emett
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I Didn’t Want To Lose My Son
Before I came to jail I had relapsed on meth and was really messing up. I kept asking God to help me get clean so that my son and my son’s dad would not realize I had relapsed. I didn’t want to lose my son. Then I end up here and my case is from several years ago! Wow! At first I was mad, but now, on a daily basis, I see God at work on me. I’m studying the Bible and I’m free in mind as well as clean! Thank you, Jesus. – Carroll
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I Am Here To Learn About Jesus
I am from Thailand, and I didn’t become a Christian until I came to the USA at the age of 12. I have learned so much about my Lord Jesus Christ in jail – more than ever before. I have been in ICE custody since 2006, and many times I have asked the Lord “How long?” I think I know the answer now. I am here to learn about Jesus through God’s Word. My body is here in jail, but my mind and heart is out there with my family. The only way this is possible is with the help of my Lord Jesus Christ. – Vachira
