About a year ago after World Race training camp the Lord gave me a spoken word. If you don’t know this term, it’s kinda like fast poetry. This spoken word represented my testimony. I had never written anything like this before so I was excited to share it with anyone who would listen. I couldn’t have imagined I would be sharing it a year later at a women’s prison.
On Sunday, a couple weeks ago, my church took a small group of members from the choir and we headed off to the women’s prison to lead worship and share testimonies. This was my first time going and I was eager to see what the Lord was going to do. We headed there in a bus, went through security, and walked through the courtyard to the chapel. The chapel had no A/C so waters were quickly passed around. The band set up the instruments and we warmed up our voices a little. At 4 o’ clock the women poured in. I would say there were around 200 women there. We joined the band and started worship.
After the first couple of songs my mom shared some of her testimony. I looked around as she was speaking and many of the women had tears down their face. I was so proud of my mom and even more grateful to have her in my life. The next couple of songs were sang and then it was my turn to share my spoken word. Before, I shared with them that I had recently gotten back from a 9 month missions trip and now I’m about to leave again for Africa in about a month. I talked about how the Lord has set me free, and is still setting me free, from things I thought would have a hold on me forever. I explained that when I was doing ministry and traveling I was constantly telling people that Jesus loves them. But I didn’t fully believe this for myself. The father walked me through a lot of shame from my past on my race and I will never forget being surrounded by my brothers and sisters and them just praying so intentionally over me. Declaring things over me like, “loved, cherished, beautiful.” So, I took the time to tell all the women in the chapel that He says the same about them. And that he delights in them.
Whenever I share my spoken word I tend to shake. Not because of nerves, but because the Holy Spirit is just really movin inside of me. And when I shared this time, I was literally bouncing on the inside. It was such an incredible experience and a couple of the women came up to me at the end just to say how inspirational it was and that they can relate. I was invited back to attend their “poetry and flow night” where some of the women share their spoken words and things that the Lord has put on their hearts.
I wanted to blog about this experience because it was the most that I have felt the ‘hunger for the Lord’ from a group of people at home. You could feel the energy in the room before we even started worshiping. The Holy Spirit is moving in the women’s prison, in Indianapolis, at college campuses, in the church, in our hearts, and around the world.
I write this blog to remind you that we are all called.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
I think a lot of times we feel like we must leave the country to effectively share the Gospel. But reality is, our neighbors need to know who Jesus is too. Don’t wait for an opportunity to come to you. Sometimes it takes stepping out of our comfort zone to create opportunities.
