Beautiful Women

Tonight I went to the jail as I do most Wednesday evenings. I do jail ministry here at our local jail. The women I encounter there are beautiful women who want what all women want. They want to be wanted, they want to be cared for, they want someone to love them and someone who they can love.

Most of these women have lost their way due to drugs. Drugs that were introduced to them by their boyfriend, their best friend, their cousin and sadly, often times by their own parents. These women have lost their children, they have lost their hope, they lost their dreams, the feel that they have lost everything. They are locked up in this room with dozens of other women who feel the exact same way.

When we get into the room they call out to each other "CHURCH". They let the others know that we are there and just for a moment I see happiness on their faces. They are glad that we come, they are happy to know that someone cares about them. That we are willing to take a few hours out of our day and come to love them.

We don't always go in with a 'plan'. We allow God to lead us where He wants us to go. However, we always share His love. We play some music (which they LOVE), we share a word from the Bible, we talk about life. We let them talk about their lives. Their hopes. Their dreams. Their fears. Their frustrations.

Some people think that these women aren't worth it. They deserve this punishment. I am not disagreeing, completely. They do have to face the consequences for their actions and their decisions....but, must they be made to feel so worthless about doing it? Sure they made bad decisions, they made mistakes but they are still daughters of the King.

They still deserve to be loved the way that God loves. They should be told that they are beautiful. They should be told that they are worth something. They should be told that I care about you and I care what happens to you. They should be built up and not torn down. I often wonder....if they were given that kind of love through out their life would they still have made the same decisions? Would they still be where they are today? I don't know....I do know this; one night I asked them how many were told that they were worthless, that they would not amount to anything, that they would end up in jail, etc and every girl in the room except for 2 raised their hands. Makes you wonder and really think about the impact of the words that I speak.

Our tongue...a very powerful weapon. We can use it to build others us or tear them down. Who said that? Oh yeah....Jesus. :)