Prisoners of Hope: Part 1 of 4

My very special friend, Grace, who has a healing ministry called Grace N’ Vessels, called me one morning and told me that she was going to minister at the Bedford Maximum Prison for women that evening and would like for my mom, Gini, my sister and I to be there as intercessors. Intercessors are people who pray for you behind the scenes. Think of them as spiritual bodyguards. They pray and hold back the evil spirits thereby protecting you so you can receive from God. Gini volunteered to babysit the kids so that Mom and I could go. Grace was only going to have a minimal staff with her that day, some tech people and some of the music crew. Larry James, her worship leader, would of course be there. She even invited the author who was writing a book about her and her lawyer, who was a huge part of her ministry, to be there as well.

We all met at the prison parking lot around 5pm in Bedford Hills, N.Y.  The prison was surrounded by brick and stone walls. There were 15 foot metal fences with rusty coiled barbed wire on top of it surrounding those walls. The parking lot was covered in dense, eerie trees. It was a very scary and ominous setting and to make it worse it was cold, rainy and dreary outside. As we got there the prison guards told us it would be another hour before we were allowed to enter the prison and we could stay in the trailer in the back. The trailer had no heat, leaked and smelled. We all decided to huddle together in Grace’s ministry van.

Grace used that time to tell us why she wanted us to come to the prison. She said those women were not just in a physical prison but a mental one also. They were not just locked away inside those prison walls but inside themselves as well.  Filled with despair and helplessness they needed to know that someone loved them, that there was still hope for them. That God cared. We knew Grace’s heart was to lead those girls to Jesus. She wanted to bring the power of God in there to reach those girls’ hearts.

She made it clear to us earlier on the phone and again that evening how she felt she was consumed with compassion knowing their only hope was Jesus. She felt strongly impressed by God, no matter what it took,  to give them all He wanted them to have. With that in mind she started to pray, asking God to use her to bring life and joy back to the women.