The POWER OF PRAYER

2010-01-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

    Prior to my incarceration, I only prayed during football games. It was not until I arrived here in prison, where there are few comforts, that I discovered that prayer helps me to prevail when I am under extremely uncomfortable and challenging conditions, and possesses the capability to preserve my peace of mind. Recently, I encountered a life altering situation that compelled me to seek divine intervention and reinforced my belief in the power of prayer.
    The situation started when the prison administration forced me to share a cell with a guy possessing an unabashed drug habit. My new celly (roommate), was young, naive New Yorker who believed that drug dealers, hoodlums, and other addicts were his friends. Prayer was my only recourse to persuade the administration to relocate me.
    One evening, my celly returned with a rumor that some guys were planning to rob us. I believed him because I knew of a young guy who had just received a package of clothes, a radio and a television from his family. Soon after receiving the package, several guys rushed into his cell wielding homemade knives and took everything he owned. The victim reported the incident, but he refused to identify the robber and the administration relocated him to protective custody. Now, I felt I could be the next target and felt the possiblity of being killed or having to harm or even kill someone in self-defense.
   Gripped by unimaginable fear, each time my door slid open, I jumped expecting knife waving hoodlums to "run down on me." After a week of anxiety, I prayed and found comfort in trusting that the Creator would intervene.
    A few days later, my friend Mike asked if I wanted to move in with him. I was so joyful that I leaped off my top bunk so fast and carelessly that I nearly landed on my face. Though I only moved one cell below my previous home, I felt like I was a world away from trouble.
   My old celly and a friend of his moved into our old cell and in the same week two guys brandishing shanks robbed them of their clothes and commissary goods. News of the robbery spread fast among the prisoners and many prisoners eagerly anticipated retaliation while the administration remained seemingly oblivious to the situation.
   One afternoon, perched on my bunk writing the day away, I heard a heavy rumbling from above. A few minutes later, Mike arrived and told me that two robbers tried to rob my old celly again. However, this time my old celly and his buddy were prepared. They killed one robber and badly wounded the other.
   The adminisration soon put the institution on indefinite lock down (during lock down the administration severely limits our movements) and the state police began investigating the institution's first murder. Ironically, since I worked in sanitation, the administration assigned me and two other prisoners to clean the chilling scene.
    When the prison officials lifted the lock down, a fellow priosner approached me and recounted the robber's plan to charge into my old cell when I was still living there. I concurred that I had heard the rumor. Finally, he added, "But they said they would not do it while that Christian was in there."

KNOCKED TO OUR KNEES!

2009-11-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Hello I'm Ivy. Last year while I was having breakfast at my favorite spot I read this touching article by this guy who is incarcerated, his name is Tyrone. I decided to write him to let him know I enjoyed his article and to encourage him.

When I received Ivy's letter it was encouraging, at a time when I desperately needed encouragement, this sistah had such a dynamic faith that she had me believing that if I flapped my wings, I could fly over my way to freedom. So what brought us here?

For me it was an experience in my marriage at the age of 21. There is nothing like the feeling of a miserable experience in marriage to knock you to your knees. And my experience involved deception and infidelity. One night, I awoke to find my husband on the sofa with another woman. Knocked to my knees wasn't really what I felt, more liked kicked to the floor. That was the breaking point. That night I called a friend who had been trying to witness to me and tell me about her recent acceptance of Jesus into her life, but I had ignored these conversations and always changed the subject, telling her my route to getting ahead would be business. But that night she was the person I called. I spent the night at Sharon's and attended Sunday service with her the next day and gave my heart to Christ that day. That morning I took baby steps towards a new life of faith in God, an ultimately towards a better future.

Ty's knocked to his knees experience was also daunting. I was attending RETS Electronics, studying computer electronics. My goal was to work as a computer technician. I had a 96 average. One night during break, I talked with a fellow student when I noticed an instructor running from classroom to classroom. In the pit of my gut, I knew he was looking for me. When he got to me, I was informed to get to the main office. I rode the elevator down, my heart pounding in my chest. I stepped off the elevator and saw several FBI agents dressed in blue suits wearing white vest. They took me into an office, placed cuffs on me then told me I was under arrest. I was taken to the police station and questioned. I swiftly asked for an attorney. The next morning, I got to the detention center and made my first phone call. I learned that they raided both my mom and girlfriend's house. When they finally put me in this dark cell my spirits hit bottom. I stared through the small window out into the night sky. I could feel the walls closing in on me, but I pulled myself together. I realized that the situation I now found myself in was because of my destructive lifestyle. And now my entire family was effected, pulled into this mess because of me. That week a man came around with magazines and books. I searched the cart and only saw religious material. I choose a magazine and a green bible. I never read the bible before and didn't know where to begin. So, I just opened it and read. The book of James opened my eyes to a better way of living I dropped to my knees and asked God to save me. To open my eyes to his truth and to make me into a better man.

FRAGRANT LOVE

The POWER OF PRAYER

KNOCKED TO OUR KNEES!