God has an unbelievable sense of humor. He was at His funniest yesterday....

It was my first time to take Janice and we were doing 4 services back to back on Sunday in 4 different units. I wrote earlier in the week that we had been given the opportunity to go into the unit that houses death row (Mountain View Prison) but because of the schedule, we just couldn't fit it in. So, we were prepared for a crazy day but not as cray as it got!

I stole Janice's word but it's so fitting. She call's God "Jehovah Sneaky." She is right We got to the unit only to find out that our services in the first three units were cancelled- they were short on staff. It was very weird because normally my heart would have been crushed. You see, I know some of the girls in those units because they have been in my classes before and I look SO forward to seeing them and praying with them etc...

It's a frustrating thing to drive half the day, spend the money on hotel, gas, food and eveything else only to be turned away but it is a part of prison ministry everyone has to accept. Anyway, I wasn't upset at all. My first thought was " Call Linda, now you can go to the Mountain View Prison. That's what I did. Now understand, you don't just call up a prison in the morning and get to walk in the door a couple of hours later to do a church service. You have to be aproved, put on a list and cleared sometime weeks before hand. Nope, not this time. One phone call and we were in. I was in shock but I was also as giggly as a school girl. There was such peace, I just knew God was moving. Now... here's the funny part. Janice has only been to a prison event once before, she was really hoping to get her feet wet a little a time. Going to Death Row was not in her plan. It was so funny to see her face when we got the call we were cleared. She looked like she couldn't decide if she was happy or terrified!

So, we get there and meet Linda's team. We all split up in two's. Janice and I got to stay together. We were not sent to death row but to an area called Ad-Seg. I had never been cell to cell in Ad- seg before and I have to tell you, it was intimidating for me and I have been doing this a while! Poor Janice!!! Oh! I have to tell you what happened before we went in there. We met one lady in tha parking lot who serves at this unit all the time so she was telling us what to expect. She told us the story of the first time she went cell to cell in Ad Seg and was not prepared for it. She told us of how a demon possessed woman started telling her things to scare her and they were all things from her past that were true. Well, Janice and I both were a but creeped out about that but then she reaasured us, "oh no, don't worry about that, we aren't going cell to cell in Ad-seg today!" Hmmmmm..... Jehovah Sneaky again! So, into the unit we go and straight to Ad- seg!

Okay, back to my story. Here we are in this long hallway. On both side are cells with double bars on them. One set of bars is like you see on TV, the other is so small they can't get their finger through. Looking in can make you a little dizzy and out of focus with all the lines but you can see well enough to talk with the girls. We went cell to cell and prayed with each girl that wanted prayer. There was one girl that talked really loud to herself about nothing that made sense. Jehovah Sneaky sent me to her. She was convinced that the officer was jealous of me and didn't want me to talk to her and "know the truth" So she very quickly tried to tell me everything about the conspiracy against the truth as fast as she could. The officer came and told me to keep moving. She was trying to save me from this girl - I thought that was sweet of her but the real truth was , I kept thinking "how do we help girls like her?" She was so smart it was amazing yet she was so out of her senses at the same time. She was so convinced of what was happening in her head- it was real to her- she wasn't faking it.  You ask yourself things like "is she demon possessed or os she mentally disabled?" I have run into girls like her before and I never know what to do. I pray God will show me- until then, please keep this precious woman in your prayers.

There were many tears and prayers lifted up in that little ad-seg area. It was a blessing to have the opportunity to pray with these women. When we were praying for one woman, a song came to my mind so I sang it for her. The coolest thing happened. The hallway hushed. It went from all of these mumblings and voices to only an echo of the song I was singing. It was quite a moment!! When the song was over, girls who did not want to talk to us before came to their bars to talk. The praise broke through some barriers and it was beautiful.

When we finished with that hallway, one of the officers offered to take me to another area to sing for them. This area was a bit of a shock. Not only did they have the two sets of bars, they also had plexi glass over the bars to keep them from spitting at you. (I praise God for plexi-glass! It was loud in this hallway. Anyway, we walked down the hallway and I went as far back as I could go and just started singing. This time a hush came over that was so profound I cannot describe it. The peace of God just fell and the echo of the song " You are Still Holy" filled the hallway. It was one of the most peaceful times I have ever felt or heard. God met us there in Ad-seg. He met those girls there. I didn't get to talk to them, I just told them that God did a lot of things that morning to make sure they knew He still loved them.

That was just the first hour of ministry yesterday! There is so, so much more but I need ot spend some time with my son so I will write the rest later tonight hopefully!!!

Until then, Go serve your KING!