My morning started out with a stamp on the wrist, a mildly invasive pat down from a prison guard and handing over my passport as collateral.
We stood in the concrete courtyard of the prison as we anxiously waited for the women to be escorted from their cells to join us. I began to look all around me at the barbwire fences; the tall, sturdy search towers strategically placed; the chain-linked fence we stood inside, and I began to ask myself, where am I? How did I get here? This time last year I was buying textbooks and a planner at the College Bookstore, ready to start classes for the semester, and here I am, in the desert of Peru, in a prison waiting to sing and talk about Jesus to women who have committed every crime from selling drugs to murder.
As we sat and waited, my group discussed how the afternoon should go. Which skits should we do? What songs do we know that we could sing?
As we shuffled though the filing cabinet of Christian songs in our minds, a few girls began singing the lyrics to “Amazing Grace”, and I was instantly teleported back to my childhood bedroom. I was 4 years old. My mom had just tucked me in and was knelt down at the side of my bed. She was singing me to sleep with “Amazing Grace”, just like she had done for me every night of my childhood for as long as I can remember. I was so at peace in that moment.
As I came out of it and back into the reality of where I truly was, I began to sing the song to myself, and this time I really thought about the words I was singing. I reached the verse of the song that reads, “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.”
What an amazing feeling of peace and relief that would be. If you had gone your whole life not knowing who God was; not knowing what it looks like to walk through life knowing you’re loved, you’re forgiven and that you are washed and renewed by the calming, refreshing, oh so PRECIOUS grace that is only offered to us through the unconditional love of our savior—How sweetly overwhelming and encouraging would that news be to your ears?
“How sweet the sound.”
And in that moment, as I realized that truth, I suddenly knew why I was there. It was to share that message with these women, who had never heard the sweet sound of that news, so that I could show them the same amazing grace that my mom had shown me as a 4-year-old, squeaky-voiced girl in her nightgown.
God instantly brought to my mind the story of the adulterous woman in the bible in John chapter 8; the one the Pharisees had brought to Jesus with expectations of stoning her, and punishing her for her sinful ways.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, the story goes like this:
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away, one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, sir,’ she said.
‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” (John 8:3-11)
After we performed a few songs and skits for the women sitting on the cement steps of the courtyard, and my squadmate Ashley had shared some of her story with the crowd, I felt Gods presence come over me so strongly that I could not ignore it. I knew He had placed that song in my heart and the verse in my mind for a reason; it wasn’t to keep to myself, hidden. I was meant to share that message with these women. So despite my intense stage fright, and the nauseous feeling in my stomach, I stood up and asked to share something. I borrowed a friend’s bible and made my way to the center of the courtyard, at which point I swear someone must have cranked the temperature up 100 degrees by the amount of sweat that was coming off of me.
I looked out into the crowd of faces before me—some rougher looking than others. Some women were cradling small children (the women have the option of raising their children in prison until they reach the age of five). I introduced myself and spoke though a translator, asking if I could share with them a bit about what kind of man Jesus was, and what kind of savior He is.
I told them about the song “Amazing Grace”—what the lyrics meant in general and how precious it was to me personally. I recited the line to them, “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.” I told them about His precious grace. How Jesus chooses to forget your past, your sins and your filth, and instead of looking at you as guilty, He sees you as pure in His eyes, and forgiven; That the moment you choose Him, that precious grace washes over you and you are made new. You have a fresh start, a new life. Your sins and your stains are removed, and you are given a clean slate.
I had the translator read to them John 8:3-11 (the above verse). I explained to them that many people believe that when Jesus bent down to write in the sand, He was writing the individual sins of the men who were accusing this woman. When they saw their sins, and knew that they had no grounds to judge her, they turned and went away. Jesus told the men, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” But there was no one.
I explained to them that there are none of us who are without sin. That it doesn’t matter what degree of sin, or crime you have committed in your past; that because of the kind of man Jesus is, those things are not held against us. He does not have those sins in His memory. Although the world may label us by our transgressions, and that may be how men see us, Jesus sees us still as His precious, clean children. All He wants from us is our love.
I told them of how refreshing it is to feel His amazing grace each morning when you wake up, and to know that no matter what filthiness you have in your life, that when you choose to chase after The Lord, that is forgotten and you are forgiven.
I sat back down and watched as Ashley and Mary Chandler, our translator, asked if any of the women wanted to choose Jesus and accept Him into their lives. The number of women who rose up in that moment brought tears to my eyes.
I would estimate that over 100 women were saved that morning in the middle of the prison courtyard. Afterwards, the women who wanted prayer were invited to come forward. I held women in my arms as they asked me to pray over their lives and their families; To pray that their children would have the opportunities that they hadn’t—that their children would not go down the same paths as their mothers had. I prayed over these women who have been deemed by society as dangerous and dirty—as broken; Knowing in full confidence that they are the precious, perfect children of God and that they can now wake up each morning feeling the same amazing grace that the adulterous woman felt when Jesus told her she was not condemned, and the same amazing grace I felt each night when my mother tucked me into bed.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
