When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Proverbs 16:7
Once again, I am seeing God's hands of love moving in every situation that happens in and around my life...
Proverbs 16:7
Once again, I am seeing God's hands of love moving in every situation that happens in and around my life...
Yesterday, a man who is doing several life sentences for homicides, and who always expressed hatred for me, sat down next to me and started up a conversation. In the past several years, this inmate made it clear that he didn't like me. Every time I passed by, he would have a scowl on his face. A number of times when he was with his friends, I would hear him whispering my name.
In this environment, it is fairly easy to see who has hatred in their heart, for it is written all over their face. And his eyes always seemed to blaze with rage whenever I was near.
However, quite a while back the Lord placed it upon my heart to pray for this man, at least once in a while. Sometimes I did pray for him, and most of the time, to be honest, I forgot to. Quite frankly, I didn't care to be in the same airspace because of the vibes he would give off.
Then one day last year he got "keep locked" for fighting with another inmate. To get 'keep locked' means to be confined to one's cell for any of a number of disciplinary infractions. An inmate could be given an infraction for breaking any of a long list of rules, from fighting or carrying a weapon, to not making one's bed in the morning or forgetting to carry one's identification card, which all of us inmates are required to carry at all times.
Yet when he got confined to his cell for a thirty-day punishment, I decided to get him a few food items from the prison's commissary to help him out. The Lord had put it upon my heart to do this, and it was no big deal.
When he got those bags of potato chips, he thanked me and seemed happy. However, once his confinement was up, he went back to putting on his scowling face and not talking to me.
This went on for months and I paid it no mind. This kind of living arrangement is part of the daily life in prison where one is surrounded by both friends and enemies, by those who like me and those who don't.
But yesterday, as I was sitting at a table in the dayroom area waiting for a shower, he plopped down in the chair right across from me, said hello, and then started talking. He asked me how I was doing and started making small talk.
I couldn't believe this was happening. He began to open up to me. He told me a little about his case and that he was never getting out. I said, "We're in the same boat." And talking on, I suggested to this inmate that he should read the Bible and maybe even consider going to the chapel with me.
While he said that he was "not ready" to start going to church, he said that he had been reading his Bible once in a while. I was so taken aback by this statement. I thought to myself, "This guy is reading the Bible?" I was blown away!
Then today he shocked me again by saying hello to me, and he was smiling when he said it. In the years I have known this man, I have seldom seen him smile about anything. Since yesterday his entire countenance seems to have changed. I know this was the Lord touching an angry heart and softening it. Jesus has answered my feeble prayers!
D.B.
In this environment, it is fairly easy to see who has hatred in their heart, for it is written all over their face. And his eyes always seemed to blaze with rage whenever I was near.
However, quite a while back the Lord placed it upon my heart to pray for this man, at least once in a while. Sometimes I did pray for him, and most of the time, to be honest, I forgot to. Quite frankly, I didn't care to be in the same airspace because of the vibes he would give off.
Then one day last year he got "keep locked" for fighting with another inmate. To get 'keep locked' means to be confined to one's cell for any of a number of disciplinary infractions. An inmate could be given an infraction for breaking any of a long list of rules, from fighting or carrying a weapon, to not making one's bed in the morning or forgetting to carry one's identification card, which all of us inmates are required to carry at all times.
Yet when he got confined to his cell for a thirty-day punishment, I decided to get him a few food items from the prison's commissary to help him out. The Lord had put it upon my heart to do this, and it was no big deal.
When he got those bags of potato chips, he thanked me and seemed happy. However, once his confinement was up, he went back to putting on his scowling face and not talking to me.
This went on for months and I paid it no mind. This kind of living arrangement is part of the daily life in prison where one is surrounded by both friends and enemies, by those who like me and those who don't.
But yesterday, as I was sitting at a table in the dayroom area waiting for a shower, he plopped down in the chair right across from me, said hello, and then started talking. He asked me how I was doing and started making small talk.
I couldn't believe this was happening. He began to open up to me. He told me a little about his case and that he was never getting out. I said, "We're in the same boat." And talking on, I suggested to this inmate that he should read the Bible and maybe even consider going to the chapel with me.
While he said that he was "not ready" to start going to church, he said that he had been reading his Bible once in a while. I was so taken aback by this statement. I thought to myself, "This guy is reading the Bible?" I was blown away!
Then today he shocked me again by saying hello to me, and he was smiling when he said it. In the years I have known this man, I have seldom seen him smile about anything. Since yesterday his entire countenance seems to have changed. I know this was the Lord touching an angry heart and softening it. Jesus has answered my feeble prayers!
D.B.