Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own body. Hebrews 13:3
Keepin’ It Real
I learned this phraseology—keepin’ it real— from my long-time penpal prisoner friend, Elizabeth, who really does keep it real.
{ I love that about her. }
She has shared all of her past mistakes and regrets with me. She tells me about her current fears and challenges. And she also shares “wide open” her love for Jesus—the One Who gave her a new life and set her spirit free—-even while she is still a captive in the natural world.
Would she trade her earthly “prison bondage” to be bound again in body and spirit out here in the world—-bound to a life on the street and to drugs and sex with men who didn’t love her? No. Of course not.
Most of us have to learn the hard way, it seems. { Maybe not the same KIND of hard way, but our own kind of hard way…}
We can get waaaay off the path God had in mind for us. And yet…He uses us and blesses us where we are.
He blessed my friend with the time and restrictions she needed to get to know Him intimately and to learn a new way of thinking and living.
Sometimes we actually need tough love and a lot of boundaries. It’s the only way we will stop long enough to listen to what’s most important. And to learn that new way of living…
Elizabeth sends me her certificates of completion for Bible studies and computer classes. Although I am just a few years older than her, she is like a proud child showing her mama!
{ And I am a proud “mama” ! }
The extra blessing in all of this for my friend is that she gets to share this brand new life of freedom and love in Jesus with other women bound up in the same worldly shackles.
What greater purpose could any of us have?
Her letters are FILLED with the Word of God!
I have been greatly humbled by my friend. I became pen pals with her so I could “help her” and “bless her.” And it certainly did start out that way. For years.
Then I hit a rough patch. A rough patch in my cushy little life out here in “the free world.”
I was a little embarrassed and way too depressed to keep writing her for awhile. I let her know I needed a break and I told her a little bit about what I was going through.
Her response?
She HANDWROTE page after page after page from her devotionals to encourage me.
She shared a few of her precious postage stamps with me because I had told her we were going through a tough financial time.
Oh man. Can someone please pass me the humble pie?
And did I need to eat a lot of that pie?
You better believe it.
My idea of a rough financial time is totally different from her idea of a rough financial time.
SHE GAVE ME HER LAST POSTAGE STAMP!! PRETTY MUCH ALL THAT SHE OWNED!!
Yes. We can all plainly see the word “indigent” on the envelope. More pie, please.
I think this could count as the equivalent to the two mites the widow offered at the temple treasury during the time Jesus walked this earth—
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4.
Okay, am I allowed to stop and brush a few tears away as I write this??
She has no family and no friends who support her.
Yet she told me she wished she was with me so she could help me and my family. That I was her best friend ever—-a gift from God. That there was nothing she wouldn’t do to help me if she could.
I actually put my face in my hands when I read some of her letters and her gifts to me during this time.
Who was teaching who here?
My prisoner friend showed me the true love of Jesus and true friendship.
I am not better than her!
We are equals on this journey.
{ Just “keepin’ it real” }
The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it. ~ Hubert H. Humphrey
And so have I. { Thank you, Elizabeth, for being one of those friends. Jesus loves you, and so do I. }
Are You Called to a Letter Writing Ministry?
I believe, no, I know, that we can be called to a letter writing ministry. God called me to that over 35 years ago and what a blessing it has been. If you feel a similar call, consider becoming a penpal—-with a prisoner or a senior citizen shut-in or a recovering victim of sex trafficking in a “halfway house,” or in sponsoring a child in a 3rd world country, or a child (or adult) stuck in a hospital for an extended length of time due to an accident or major illness.
Let me tell you, these people are lonely and isolated and often feel hopeless, unloved, and depressed. They soak up the friendship and are grateful beyond what you can imagine for a card or letter in their mailbox or to have their name called out during mail call that “brings a great big Kool-Aid smile” (as my penpal, Elizabeth, in a California prison tells me. For those of you who don’t know—-the “Kool-Aid smile” is from an old Kool-Aid commercial. That pitcher with the Kool-Aid smile? Are any of you with me?)
(Please note that I’m most definitely NOT promoting Kool-Aid! Just smiling! 😊)
I have read countless testimonies (a few to me personally) of how one letter or card of encouragement turned a life around—-not just “a day around”—-a LIFE around. It’s a beautiful, personal, heart-to-heart ministry. You can even choose to write little notes to strangers to share Love from an unexpected source. I’ve done that, too. 🙂 Sometimes I’ve enclosed a little gift.
One year, while visiting with family near Fort Campbell, we visited a military museum. (My husband’s brother was serving in Army Special Forces at the time.) One of the display stories captured my attention (and heart), especially as a letter writer. It was about a woman named Anna Mabry Barr—“Stockade Annie” was her nickname. In her later years she had taken it upon herself to do her version of fulfilling the New Testament command to visit the sick and those in prison. She made daily rounds to the military hospitals, gave away Bibles and tracts with the 23rd Psalm and her testimony, and she wrote letters and poems to soldiers. This is yet another of the multitude of ways we can use letter writing as a life-changing ministry—writing letters to soldiers.
Something to think about: Paul had a “letter writing ministry.” Check out the New Testament! { Wow! }
Be a light in the darkness
Be a heart to the heartless
When the world’s lost its meaning
Be the one who will still go on believing.
From the Song “Light in the Darkness” by Margaret Becker
MOVIE RECOMMENDATION
I discovered an incredibly special movie about an elderly man who lived in a rest home and had made it his mission to write letters to people from the phone book that he felt led to write to. I think you would greatly enjoy this movie. I love it!! (The beginning of the movie worried me a little bit but it’s a brief setup. Nothing bad is ever shown. Or even implied. )
Dove.org family-friendly movie reviewers gave this review of The Letter Writer.
MOVIE: The Letter Writer
Synopsis: “The Letter Writer” is a drama about Maggie Fuller, a rebellious and troubled teenager who receives a life-affirming letter from an unknown source. When Maggie is able to track down the writer of the letter–an old man in a rest home she has never met–she decides to become a letter writer herself by being the old man’s apprentice.
Dove Review
This is a wonderful movie with a nice redemption theme which families everywhere will enjoy. Sam is a Christian who writes letters to people from the phone book, people he feels “led” to write. He strikes gold when he writes sixteen-year-old Maggie, who tracks him down and finds him in a nursing home. Maggie has had a difficult upbringing and does some things she shouldn’t such as stealing and cheating and arguing with her mother. But Sam’s influence changes her life and he helps her discover her singing talent and she gets a chance to let it shine and make her mother proud.
We are recommending this movie for all ages, but because of the few scenes of disrespect it should probably be watched as a family if you have young children. It has a lot of good elements in it and we are pleased to award this movie our Dove Seal. For you tender-hearted viewers, get the Kleenex out!