There can be no argument that prison is a place of pain...
It's a world where anger, rage, frustration, loneliness, and disappointment daily confront those who are confined here. Likewise, it's a place where failures in life are joined together in large numbers. There's bitter weeping over bad choices, betrayal by supposed friends, ruined lives, and by the inevitable realization that herein dwell men who have self-destroyed their dreams.
Yet prison can also be a place for hope, because in here one has the opportunity to learn who you are as a person. It's where a man has the chance to confront his true self and admit to his errors.
Moreover, prison can become the place where a man could get to know and serve the Creator, if he chooses to. For in this environment, the Lord can and does display His mercy and His power to those who begin to seek Him. In fact, I have seen the love of God soften the hardest of hearts and break asunder souls of steel. And this is because Christ's message of forgiveness to all who call upon Him will cause one's faith to flourish. While His light gives a man hope for a new day.
Still, it is a challenge to rise above the madness of incarceration. Since, in here, it is not uncommon to find many prisoners giving in to a spirit of despair. And when this happens to a man, he won't be able to see the beauty of the sun and sky. Instead, a wall of darkness will grip his mind as well as cloud his vision of the future. In this state of mind, all hope will be gone.
Yet there are inmates who, by the grace of God, experience victory, joy, and contentment in their lives. Not because they're incarcerated, but in spite of it all. But it is only after having fought a good fight of faith, and by each of them choosing to stand in the power of the Lord against all the opposition, and against the seemingly endless forces of negativity that are behind these walls. This is true of every correctional facility.
You see, in prison a man either becomes a better person, or he merely continues along the path of criminality. He can choose to waste his time or use it wisely for his benefit. But each man must decide all this for himself. No one can or will make the decision for him.
D.B.
Yet prison can also be a place for hope, because in here one has the opportunity to learn who you are as a person. It's where a man has the chance to confront his true self and admit to his errors.
Moreover, prison can become the place where a man could get to know and serve the Creator, if he chooses to. For in this environment, the Lord can and does display His mercy and His power to those who begin to seek Him. In fact, I have seen the love of God soften the hardest of hearts and break asunder souls of steel. And this is because Christ's message of forgiveness to all who call upon Him will cause one's faith to flourish. While His light gives a man hope for a new day.
Still, it is a challenge to rise above the madness of incarceration. Since, in here, it is not uncommon to find many prisoners giving in to a spirit of despair. And when this happens to a man, he won't be able to see the beauty of the sun and sky. Instead, a wall of darkness will grip his mind as well as cloud his vision of the future. In this state of mind, all hope will be gone.
Yet there are inmates who, by the grace of God, experience victory, joy, and contentment in their lives. Not because they're incarcerated, but in spite of it all. But it is only after having fought a good fight of faith, and by each of them choosing to stand in the power of the Lord against all the opposition, and against the seemingly endless forces of negativity that are behind these walls. This is true of every correctional facility.
You see, in prison a man either becomes a better person, or he merely continues along the path of criminality. He can choose to waste his time or use it wisely for his benefit. But each man must decide all this for himself. No one can or will make the decision for him.
D.B.
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