Just A Few Of The Blessings I Have Received

Each time I go to the jails or prison, I am hoping to be a blessing to the inmates. However, the inmates are not the only ones who receive the blessings. I always receive a blessing myself. Sometimes, I am blessed even more than the inmates. I always leave the jails more fired up for Christ than I was before I went. The following is just a sample of the blessings that I have received over the past 15 years.

I walked into the Newport, AR Jail one Sunday Morning, and this inmate, Jim Tidwell, sitting all the way across the cellblock, cried out with a loud voice, “I want to be saved”. I walked over to him, and asked, do you want to wait until I give the invitation, or do you want to do it now? His answer was, “I want to get saved right now”. I’m tired of the devil and his ways.”

I was walking through the Walnut Ridge, AR jail one day, and right out of the sky-blue this inmate by the name Jim Pyle, said “How do you go about that? And I said about what Jim? And he said how do I go about getting saved? There are many inmates just waiting for a chaplain or jail minister to tell them about Jesus.

I remember a man in the Ash Flat, AR jail who accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior, then asked if I would go to his home and tell his wife the same thing I had told him. I assured him that I would, and I went from the jail to his house. His wife met me on the front porch, and I told her that her husband asked me to tell her about Jesus. She said wait just a minute. Then she went back inside. After a few minutes she told me to come on in. Then I seen this 17 Yr. Old boy and a 14 Yr. Old boy come out of their rooms and joined their mother and me. Then the mother said go ahead. Within 15 minutes the wife of the inmates and both sons had trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savoir.

I could tell of  hundreds of great blessings  as the above, if time would allow..

Larry Weaver and I started working as chaplains 15 Yrs. ago. Since that time, there have been over 2,500  inmates come to Christ for salvation. Can any of you tell me of any other mission work in America where the harvest is whiter???

A MIRACLE FOR ME

Once I was evil In what I’d say and do, Injecting cocaine, Denying you.

I lurked in the shadows; I crept at night, Robbing and stealing. I was Satan’s delight.

Doomed to death, Eternity in hell, It was my way of life… One I knew well.

Although I could see, I must have been blind, For you were right there, Throwing me a line.

I heard your call As you beckoned to me, “Take hold of my hand; I shall set you free.

I reached up my hands Toward the sky. I called to you, Father, With tears in my eyes.

I asked you for mercy, For you to forgive. I pleaded my case. I wanted to live.

A miracle has happened, I can honestly say, For Jesus my Savior Has blessed me today.

I walk in the light, My eyes opened wide, Love overflowing, Joy in my eyes.

Ears that were deaf Now can hear. The ways of the wicked Have all disappeared.

This is my testimony To you, my friend, For Jesus so loved us, He died for our sins.

by Inmate Troy Huffmaster

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Poem By Inmate Pattie Finch

Prison's no place for an innocent child. There's no room for the meek, no  room for the mild.

The nights are so lonely I toss in my bed. The days are so weary, I face them with dread.

Grant me one prayer as you did from the Cross, for that thief who knew that his life was a loss.

Please come to this prison where I sit all alone, Surrounded by razor wire, guard towers and stone.

Broken and penitent, forgotten and lost, on the ash heap of regreat where my life was tossed.

I've no other place left on this earth, REMEMBER ME O LORD, renew me by birth.

Come to this prison, enter my cell, Save me, forgive me, in this man-made Hell.

And if in this life, no home here I see, In your Kingdom of Forgivness, LORD, please remember me.

Written by Inmate Pattie Finch