For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown. – Ezekiel 36:9
“C,” a young Christian mom, had been falsely accused of child abuse and sentenced to four months in the county jail. Although her plea of “No contest” was made to avoid a trial by jury, risking up to 25 YEARS in prison, still four months away from her husband and very young children was a miserable way to spend a summer in Michigan, when other families were enjoying the beaches, parks, and pools.
If you missed the beginning of this story, here are the links to get caught up, if desired:
When God Says “No” … Again Part I: The Nightmare
When God Says “No” … Again Part 2: Eggs, Carrots, and Coffee Beans
When I received a response to the letter I had written C, it was obvious that she was struggling with her faith because of all the unanswered prayers. (Or rather, the “no” answers to everything we had all asked for.) Since the overwhelming emotion was that of having been abandoned by God, I offered to send her a copy of my book BARRIERS, with the subtitle “(So, if prayers are so powerful, how come mine don’t get answered?).” C accepted the offer and added that a few of the women in her pod (cell of eight people) were also interested.
I went to the jail website to read the rules for sending books. I learned that they couldn’t be hardbound (My books were all paperbacks, so no problem there.) and that they had to come directly from the publisher. I called and talked to the woman in charge, telling her that I was the publisher, and asking permission to send a book, or maybe a few books to the jail. I was told that I could.
Meanwhile, C’s husband, “T,” who was allowed frequent “face time” with her, got the names of the interested “girls” in C’s pod. I made one more phone call to the woman in charge and asked if I could sign the books, and she said that I could. I prayerfully wrote a little note to each lady and shipped seven books the next day.
The following Monday I got a text from T, saying he had “good news and bad news.”
I thought, Uh-oh, now what?
The good news was, the books had arrived. The “bad news” was that the woman I had talked to had been off that day, and her replacement had opened the box and put the books onto the book cart for the general population. All but two had been snatched up by other inmates.
(As an author not used to having my books “snatched up,” this did not seem like 100% “bad news” to me…)
I promptly sent another five books, and T gave C the heads-up so she and her friends could watch for the books and grab them. I also wrote her another letter that included the questions for the first few chapters from the BARRIERS study guide.
The next letter I received from C showed her being lifted from the initial feelings of total despair. Her focus had shifted from the misery of her situation and more toward others around her, as she could see she was beginning to have an influence on other inmates.
At first, the other women had made fun of her lack of “street smarts” (She knew nothing about the world of illegal drugs.). They had started calling her “Mom,” since she would occasionally reprimand them for being rude or behaving inappropriately. At first the nickname was a way to mock the newbie, but as they got to know her, it became more a term of endearment and even respect.
As for me, I had my own nickname for her: “God’s little coffee bean.”
And now C was about to start a Bible study on prayer, and why God sometimes doesn’t answer us the way we would like Him to.
TO BE CONTINUED …
Prayer: Lord, Your ways are not our ways. Thank You for the times You push us out of our comfort zones to accomplish things we never imagined. Help us to trust You in those times and know that if things aren’t happening the way we’d like, it is likely that You’re up to something, and that “something” is always good, because YOU are always good.