As part of our ministry, we had an opportunity to go to a prison, here in Romania, and minister to the inmates there.
It was a cold rainy day, we had all been standing outside for a little over an hour with all the security checks that we had to go through to get into the prison, after the second frisking, identity check, and metal detector wand check we were in. As we walked into the inner gate and towards the building where the prisoners were, I prayed, asking the Holy Spirit to go before us, and speak to these men and women.
The room was half-way filled with the men from the prison, roughly 45 men, and 8 women serving time. As we took our seats our ministry host for this month came to me asking me if I would be willing to speak in front of everyone about how I am overcoming with my father’s death. I agreed, even though I wasn’t sure what I would say. The person I was sitting beside (we had just met) leaned over to me, and asked me “do you know Psalm 68:5?”. I said no, and he proceeded to tell me the verse:
“Father to the fatherless, defender of the widows-this is God, whose dwelling is holy. 6 God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.”
He then said that when there is an absence of a earthly father there is where God’s holiness can dwell. I said “yes, this is where I’m living”. He said this to me and I assumed that someone had told him about my Father’s death, so I talked to him on the verse, the whole time not realizing that he had no idea.
Then Raul (our host) began speaking. Mack gave his testimony, Michelle gave her testimony, and then it was time for me to speak. I gave a little background on my father’s role in my life, how he was the person who lead me to the Lord, and how his role later in my life was also one of the greatest points of conflict. I then began to tell about the present. The moment I told them that my father died two weeks prior, and how he passed, you could hear a pen drop. Silence. The room was waiting on my next words. I then began to talk about how I can have joy even in mourning because I have the hope of the Lord. I spoke about how he gives me strength even through this pain.
Once I finished speaking Raul asked two of the inmates to pray for me in front of the others. They stood next to me, both flanking me, and they prayed. To say I was touched by their prayers would be a gross understatement. It was incredible. Raul later came up to me, and told me that when he was talking to them, after their prayers, they told him that they too lost their father’s. This was only by the Holy Spirit that they were chosen because Raul did not know them.
After this, I went to my seat, and Jeff (the man I was sitting next to) with tears in his eyes said “I didn’t know”. I immediately started crying, all I could say was “you didn’t know?” over and over. We shared such pure moment both of us in awe of how God spoke through him. He had no idea that it was God speaking into my life when he asked me about this verse. And I had no idea how sweetly the Father was pursuing me. He continues to pursue me, and I continue to rest in the promise of Psalm 68:5.
