The ladies in the county jail Bible study have many deep-seated struggles and emotional issues. It is so exciting to see how they change and transform over the weeks and months. Most women attend the Bible study only once or several times, so I don’t get to see how they transform. But, I have seen incredible transformational miracles in the lives and situations of the ladies who do come to my bible study for several months or years. I will be adding to this page from time to time, so keep checking back.
Here is the story of one of my ladies. When Pam first came into my study she was utterly broken and feeling completely hopeless. She could not stop crying. As she went through my healing book (found on this website), she began to see victory over the many problems in her life. At one point she was released from jail but returned several months later when she broke parole. She continued to grow and learn, and to hear how she responds to disappointment in a healthy way instead of getting angry, is wonderful to see. For her and all the inmates, being able to forgive those who hurt them is huge, and they feel the peace they never knew could be felt. In fact, Pam has experienced such a tremendous transformation that she wants to know how to do the same thing in the county jail where she is originally from.
This next testimony was very heartbreaking for me because I knew this particular inmate when I was a teacher, and I remember that she was very intelligent. Unfortunately, she became addicted to lying and ended up extorting money from a lot of people. She was in the Bible study for two years while she waited for her sentencing. As her story unfolded, we would work with her, using the principles outlined on this website, to heal and transform her wrong thoughts and beliefs that she developed from the many tragedies in her life. The transformation in her life was amazing. When she is finished with her sentence, she intends to pay back everyone she extorted money from. From this story, I learned that every human heart wants to be loved and cared for. This particular young lady saw that lying was able to get the attention and love she so desperately wanted. So when those memories of not getting the attention and love she craved were healed, then her problem with lying was transformed.
Many of the women who come to the bible study deal with abandonment issues. Many of the women also come from adopted families and have had to give up their children for adoption as a result of their addictions. One young lady, who had been adopted, had deep-seated anger toward her adoptive father from the time her adoptive mother had died. Not only did this young lady feel abandoned by her birth parents, but also by her adoptive father and mother when her adoptive mother died. When she recognized why she was angry, and then went through the forgiveness process, her whole life appeared to get lighter. She could see why she made the choices she made, which was a result of her anger towards her father. She had so much joy and peace once the unhealthy beliefs and the wrong thinking were transformed with the truth.
Read the following post for another great testimony: Free from Anger–County Jail Testimony and Teaching
Hope for Complete Healing 