Prison Ministry Decorations

We minister in a small Church and the way the economy is right now, we have next to nothing in the budget for decorations. My husband and I are passionate towards missions, so as I thought about our upcoming Missions Conference I knew God would help us out.

Shortly after we secured our Missionary Speaker, Toby Cribbs, who serves the LORD in jails and prisons in TN/Ga area...I knew the decorations would be challenging, and nothing I could use from last year's decorations. Within days GOD gave me a vision of something that I was not at all sure if I could create, but I kept HIS vision before me, and plugged away the best I could in a frugal manner.

I gathered faces from the internet, mostly by looking at men's hairstyles. I printed them out and cut around the faces. Then I had a box of gloves left over from caring for my home under hospice. I filled them one glove after another. My daughter in law and grandchildren helped with that too when they were here. Then I bought poster board for their shirts, drew them, cut them out and printed a Bible reference on each shirt. Put them all together with paper chains on their wrists. I was amazed that it looked like it was going to work (although keep those gloves on the window was not an easy task).

I noticed that all of our prisoners were bound and that did not represent the FREEDOM that anyone can obtain in Christ. That is when GOD gave me the second VISION. He told me to find a song, and while we were singing it, to have various people cut the chains off the decoration prisoners. So the one song our people know well is: Victory in Jesus. So my hubby (the Pastor) gave directions to the people how they are all bound, and in the name of Jesus they can be free. So as we sang the song, various brave souls left their seats and walked to the windows. One by one the chains were broken!

It was a powerful service! I am so grateful to GOD who helps us in the big things and the simple things like DECORATIONS. And when GOD gets involved with decorations, HE turns it into something POWERFUL. I am so awed at GOD.

My Mother's Scent

March 23 was my mom's birthday. She would have been 86. She went to Glory six months ago. I miss her more than I could ever pen. She not only gave me life, but she showed me JESUS. I am forever thankful.

BUT what I wanted to share with you is how absolutely COOL God is!

Yesterday in my mom's honor, I decided to wear HER perfume. I wear TABU most everyday of my life. My mother wore NAVY the last few years of her life. I keep her bottle of NAVY in a special box in my room which also has her last night gown and the DVD of her service, etc. SO I put on her perfume all day. I noticed that it didn't particularly blend with my chemistry, like it did hers, but I wore it all day anyway.

THEN I went to the little devotional book that mom always read: OUR DAILY BREAD. On March 23 the title was SIGNATURE SCENT. It mentioned how certain smells will cause us to think about certain times in our lives, or certain people. For sure NAVY caused me to think of my mom. The devotional let us to Exodus 30: 34,35 which talks of a special recipe for a fragrance ONLY allowed in the tabernacle for worship. A scent that GOD and the people would KNOW meant worship was going on between the Holy of Holys and humbled human beings. This fragrance was used NO OTHER place, but for worship in the Tabernacle.

THEN the devotional took us to 2 Cor 2: 14,15 where the New Testament teaches that WE, Believers in Jesus, are a sweet fragrance that is acceptable (pleasing) to God. God uses Christians (me and you) as His "signature scent" to the world. What kind of smell am I giving off to the world? Do I draw people to Christ, or do I turn them away? Are people drawn to the Christ in me, or do they run? WOW...what a thought!

I felt so GOD HUGGED when I read this and realized that GOD had placed it in there TODAY for me, on my mom's birthday. NAVY will always remind me of my mother, but she would want me to boldly wear and be the sweet fragrance of my life that is pleaseing to my Lord Jesus.

GOD is so awesome in HIS ways to HUG us on days when we need HIS special touch. If it was on any other day, that devotional would not have had the same meaning, as it had on my mom's birthday, when I was wearing her scent in honor of her.

I am so thrilled that GOD loves like that! His hugs are so sweet, so powerful, and so personal.

What a mighty God we serve!