Eggplants and Jesus

It was an average Thursday. I headed off to the prison with a few friends who were visiting. As we arrived, I took the men into the larger part and asked them to lead devotions. My friend, Deb, and I proceeded back to where the women were.

It was then that I realized, eggplants are deep, spiritually deep. You see, most weeks, the women are in their cell when we come to visit. But this week, they were in the courtyard peeling eggplants. We sat down in their circle and started talking. Deb spoke to them about the power of their tongue and their words. Afterwards, we just sat around talking and laughing. Until one of the newer women came up. She pulled her bucket into the middle of the circle as close to us as possible. I started to feel quite a bit nervous. You see, what little I knew about her was that she was a witch doctor.

Deb said to her, God wants to use your influence for his kingdom and his glory. From there, the next two hours were mind blowing and divinely appointed. She asked questions about God, his power, his forgiveness, and his love. She delivered her children at the mission 15 years ago in our birthing center. Her delivery was quite hectic and she almost lost her child. The nurse on duty that night was Magdala, the same women who does prison ministry with me now. As we continued to talk, my friend reflected on the past few years. She started to recall different situations and things that she never understood. She mentioned how she never paid attention to the way that God was working in her life, until she came to prison. It was here, that God got her attention. My friend never let her children see what she did or participate in her services. She wanted to protect them from it, she knew that God was bigger than what she practiced. I asked her why she wanted her kids to choose Christ, but she didn't want to herself. She went on to say that she felt too far gone. There was no way that she could be redeemed, that Christ could undone what had been done.

But then she learned the truth, the good news. She wasn't too far gone; she was right where God needed her to be. She was in a place to be loved and encouraged. That even in a federal prison, she was surrounded by women who love the Lord and wanted her to have that hope too.  By the end of that conversation, my friend had decided she was done with voodoo. She didn't want satan to have that hold over her. She wanted to destroy, crush, and burn everything she had in her home. She didn't want to sacrifice animals anymore, because she knew that Christ's sacrifice was enough.

Thankful that there is power in the name of Jesus....