The Least of these my Brethren

I received a few stray prison lessons in the mail today. Whenever the girls get mixed up and send lessons to the publishers in Pensacola Brother Jeff graciously sends them to my home. Ordinarily they go to the church, but either way the lessons make it to us.

Carol M, a student from two years ago was back in cell #46 last month after a year and a half absence. (Absence is GOOD - everyone should want to be absent from jail all their life!) She barely let me see her, preferring to listen from her mattress inside the cell during the Bible lesson, but she did stick her head out long enough to say hi, and was surprised when I called her by name. She'd always been a tad shy and reserved. Last week when I went on my scheduled day for July she'd been moved to the trustee cell. And she was no longer just another woman on a mattress, she had taken the role as the spiritual leader of that cell. I was blown away. A big group of ladies hungry to hear from God joined us and Carol no longer hid away, ashamed at being found in jail again, she sat across from me and helped lead discussion.

I was amazed at the transformation in this woman. Here she was, probably in for a drug violation, but stepping up in the worst possible situation to be what God had ordained her to be all along, a natural leader. She'd been leading the cell in Bible study, with nothing but their Bibles, for days. Every woman there was hungry for more of the Word and I wound up leaving many complete lesson sets for them and a couple of Bibles for the newer women.

I'm reminded that God uses the foolish and base things of the world to confound the wise. There's certainly no news camera's going to pick up on this story, I'm just glad I got to see it. My prayer for Carol is that she'll become on the outside what God has shown her to be on the inside, both literally and figuratively.