Prisoner...But Free

As a prisoner
All rights as a citizen
No longer apply

As a prisoner
Any dreams for the future
No longer matter

As a prisoner
All cravings and addictions
Cannot be indulged

As a prisoner
Favorite activities
May not be enjoyed

As a prisoner
Choices and variety
No longer exist

-------------------------------------

I know prisoners
Who today have hope in Christ
Chains of sin broken

I know prisoners
Whose guilt, remorse, and regret
No longer bind them

I know prisoners
Whose faith has cleared their record
Truth has set them free

I know prisoners
Blameless, righteous, forgiven
No longer guilty



I just spent two days alongside men who have committed gruesome crimes. They have been stripped of every right and privilege they had as a citizen. Yet, they are more free than many who are not confined to prison, because they have experienced the forgiveness and healing that comes through Jesus Christ. They have hope that even though their lives on earth will be spent inside a maximum security prison, it is not their end. They have joy in knowing that they can have (and have had) an impact on the "outside" world through what they're learning and pursuing inside prison walls. They are speaking Truth into their children's lives, stopping the generational cycle of crime one child at a time. They are sharing the hope they have with other prisoners whose lives are being changed. For two days, I shared tears of joy and pain with my brothers. For one day, I watched men be dads, uncles, grandpas to the children they love. For life, I will be forever changed.

~Rebecca Phillips 

A Letter to My Birth Mom

It is at this time of year that I think most about my birth mother. It may sound a bit calloused, but Mother’s Day is one of the only days of the year I think about her. Somewhere, a woman I have never met, whose name I do not know, is celebrating Mother’s Day, because my very existence labeled her as one. This year I took some time to write some thoughts and feelings I have about her.

Dear Mom,
Happy Mother’s Day! I’m the reason you can celebrate today. I don’t know what kind of emotions and feelings you have on this symbolic day of the year or if it evokes more or less than other days, so I will tell you mine.
Today I celebrate you, someone who is a total stranger to me, but essential to my very existence. I don’t know the specifics of the decisions that lead to my conception, but I do know some of the ones that followed. You must have been scared, Mom, and maybe even alone. But somewhere along the line you valued my life more than your own. Thank you. It didn’t have to be that way. It was “your body, your choice.” And I don’t know what I would have done if I had been in your place.
You did the best you could. You worked hard and sought out help. What humility. I’m strong-willed and determined…something I may have gotten from you. I struggle with asking for help sometimes, but you knew it was the right thing to do. And everyone knows the right things to do are some of the hardest things to do.
You picked out a family to adopt me. You took the time for someone who barely existed to have a chance at a better life. I’m sure if you had chosen to keep me that you would have continued to do your best. But you saw beyond that to me and the future I could have. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but it is the LORD who directs their steps.” God’s hand was moving both in my new life and in yours, whether you recognized it or not.
I don’t know what happened in the days before I was born. I don’t know if the weight of your decisions had finally taken its toll on you, or if life was just bearing down on you as it so often does. But I do know that in a moment of obscurity you found yourself in the midst of substance abuse. Was it at home? With friends? Did it bring comfort? Temporary freedom from everything life had dealt you? You had to have known that this choice wasn’t your finest. That it could have caused harm to both you and me. Was it worth the risk?
Whatever the circumstances were that lead you to that decision I can’t and won’t hold it against you ever, Mom. Who’s to say that I wouldn’t do the same thing if I were in your shoes? But I know God was watching over both of us. Despite the weight of the choices you made, I was born with perfect health. I learned years later while looking over my file that you were concerned about my health, yet refused to hold or interact with me. Many people would take that information in a variety of different ways. I choose to believe that you made that choice so that you would follow through with letting me go. I know that must have been hard. But there are no words to express the gratitude I have that you

made that choice.

I am so happy with the life you chose for me. I have been given a foundation that is solid. I have had the chance to excel and have been taught that my potential is only limited by my own lack of effort. You gave me this chance, Mom. So today of all days I’m asking you not to live in the past, in moments of doubt or regret. Be proud, Mom. Celebrate. Today is as much about you as it is the mother who raised me. You may not have had the chance to watch me grow, but you were the reason I got to. Thank you.

I love you. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

Your Daughter

Joya Shenefield

When Celebrations Become Painful Reminders

Click here to read this week's Cup of Grace that I'm sharing from my personal blog.

~Rebecca Phillips

Weeping in the Sowing

I planted some seeds about 15 years ago, seeds of encouragement and love in the life of a young girl that so desperately needed affirmation and attention. After a couple of years, life's paths took us in different directions and I lost touch. When we reconnected a few years later, it was evident that there had not been much watering and nurturing of this tender plant. She'd been tattered by life's storms and the disease of sin had left some pretty significant scars.
It's amazing how blooms are still possible in what seem the most dire of circumstances. She began a journey of transplanting and regrowth. It was a hard journey, one full of ups and downs, good choices and bad choices. Then she had a beautiful baby boy. I saw growth like never before. She began holding jobs for more than just a few months, making better choices about the people she would spend time with, and making a greater effort to surround herself with a community of believers.
But the weeds had never been removed. They have been so entangling for so long that she simply
cannot recognize them as weeds. The weeds have some attractive blooms in the form of happiness, security, escape, and the affirmation and attention she has desired since I've known her. Plucked from the ground and placed in a decorative vase, the arrangement is quite lovely. A man that dotes on her, the ability to have and do things financially, a fresh start in a new location far from the life in which she grew up, opportunities for her son. It's as beautiful as the flowers on my desk this morning.
But we all know what happens to even the most beautiful of cut flower arrangements. Even if we add the plant food for a week, the flowers will eventually wither and die.
Oh, if only we could be satisfied with the arrangement in which God has planted us. He is the source of our nourishment, health, and stability. We see the arrangements that are pulled together for others, the displays of color that bring joy and satisfaction...temporarily, and we want that. But we fail to realize that the most fulfilling place to be is rooted in the truth, whether we like it or not.
While I look at the areas of my own life where I've allowed the weeds of deceit to cause discontentment, I'm also grieving for my sweet friend, praying and waiting for the rejoicing that will come when she surrenders to God's best for her life.

Psalm 126:6
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.

~Rebecca Phillips

The Insanity of My Life!

Why did everyone planning a special event decide that the third week of April would be a good time to put that thing on the calendar?  I'm telling you, this week we have all kinds of choices! Deciding which fun things to take in will be the only problem.  At times like this, I begin to think maybe it would be better to be a hermit and never do anything--just eliminate the decision making.  But I know I'll have regrets if I do that---and I'll miss so much!

One thing that I don't want to miss this week is the beauty surrounding my life. Besides the richness of people and events, there is the physical beauty of the world. As I write this, I can see the sunset out my window. It is just stunning through the trees: a blanket of soft gray with the orange light of the setting sun showing through. And here's what that setting sun says to me day after day: God is faithful. I know it's a simple and oft-repeated sentiment, but it's one we shouldn't ignore.  God brings back the springtime every year. He keeps the world turning and the moon in place. He supervises the tides' coming in and going out. He can take care of you and me.

Last week I finished reading The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken. It's a remarkable account of God's faithfulness around the world, in places where serving him is a dangerous thing. As we were challenged to look for opportunities to witness this week, I thought of those believers across the globe who are faithful at the hazard of their lives. They can be this way because they have seen the faithfulness of God.

Here's what I Peter says: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you" (5: 8-10). 

In the midst of my own "insanity" this week, I want to remember the "insanely" and remarkably faithful God I serve. Will you pray that I do it?  I'll pray for you, too.

--Sherry Poff

Bring Them Home by Ruth Bell Graham

For all

who knew the shelter of The Fold,

its warmth and safety

and The Shepherd’s care,

and bolted;

choosing instead to fare

out into the cold,

the night;

revolted

by guardianship,

by Light;

lured

by the unknown;

eager to be out

and on their own;

freed

to water where they may,

feed

where they can,

live as they will:

till

they are cured,

let them be cold,

ill;

let them know terror,

feed

them with thistle,

weed,

and thorn;

who chose

the company of wolves,

let them taste

the companionship wolves give

to helpless strays;

but, oh! let them live—

wiser, though torn!

and wherever,

however far away

they roam,

follow

and

watch

and

keep

Your stupid, wayward, stubborn sheep,

and someday

bring them Home!

submitted by Faith Himes Lamb

Forgiven Forever

Before you committed your first sin
Sins were forgiven forever.
Before you confessed your sinful nature
Sins were forgiven forever.
Before you continued to struggle with sin in the flesh
Sins were forgiven forever.
You are a child of God, a perfected saint, because
Sins were forgiven forever.
You have a new covenant written on your heart, because
Sins were forgiven forever.
No offering or sacrifice is needed, because
Sins were forgiven forever.
Your sins are remembered no more, because
Sins were forgiven forever.
Two thousand years ago
Sins were forgiven forever.
~Rebecca Phillips


Hebrews 10:11-18
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.