The female population at the jail was light last night, and only two women came to the Bible study. As often happens, in a short time they had become very close friends. Neither had ever read the Bible in her entire life! 

I’ll never know who witnessed, prayed, wept, and shared with them before that night, but I was the beneficiary of their work last night.

Both women were in their fifties. One, let’s call her Mary; the other, let’s call her Carol. Carol was truly a rough cut, and the hardships of life showed from head to toe. She had recently lost her partner in a motorcycle accident, and she was devastated. She shared some of her story: the devastation alcohol had brought into her life, divorce, the loss of her home, the loss of her children, and now the loss of the man she loved. She was at the end of herself, and she thought she might find some refuge in this Jesus she had heard about.

Mary kept her story to herself, but she wanted to explore a new way of living, and so she came to the meeting.

We read and talked through each verse in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 2. When we came to verse 4—“The message I preached and how I preached it was not an attempt to sway you with persuasive arguments but to prove to you the almighty power of God’s Holy Spirit”—I lingered over the verse and shared some of my testimony about how the Holy Spirit fell upon me the night of my conversion.

After I finished sharing, Mary looked at me and quietly said,

“That’s happening to me now.”

She spoke so softly, so timidly, that I almost continued on at first. But then I realized that God was enveloping her in that very moment. So I explained the importance of what was happening and gave her a Bible. I dog-eared the beginning of the Red Letters in Matthew and helped her understand what was happening within her and how God’s Word illuminates the way as we grow in Him.

Neither Mary nor Carol had any permanent plans for their release, so I gave each of them a pamphlet about the women’s shelter provided free through Union Gospel Mission. They were completely unaware that such benevolent resources were available and were deeply thankful.

We prayed, wept, and said our heartfelt goodbyes.