Have you ever prayed to be free of a negative, (maybe even destructive), character trait? I know I have. In fact I’ve had to pray many times. First you drop your defenses–your reasons for holding onto the trait in the first place. Then you make room in your heart to let God’s presence displace the unwanted trait. And you keep on making room in your heart for God until your heart is scrubbed clean.
When your heart is clean you feel different. Better. More alive. Because you are.
Well if you like redemption stories you’ll like this one. Here Christian Science Chaplain John tells of a man considered a “hardened criminal”– facing up to 30 years in a California State Prison. He explains what happens when God changes this man’s heart.
In fact the redemptive changes were so profound the man’s own wife barely recognized him after he began praying. But more than that his clean heart opened the way for his sentence to be overturned, freeing the man.
Are there “wrongs” in your life that need to be over-turned? Then take heart. Because as this video shows, God is waiting for the opportunity to show you the way to freedom too.
Feel free to leave a comment or tell your own story. We’d love to hear from you.
Blessings,
David
Editor, LightInPrison.org
John, thank you for sharing this inspiring story. I am currently working and praying with a woman in jail helping her to love each person no matter who they are, no matter what the situation. This enlightened way of looking at people has helped her attitude tremendously. She helps others in the jail as much as she can, and she really strives to love and bless each person, prosecutor, judge, false witness, etc. The story you related is truly an inspiration, and I will share it with her. When a life is changed, inspired, that person goes on the help others in the same way. It is wonderful to see!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful account of a life transformed. It is a concrete example of the good that unfolds when man is correctly seen as God’s (Love’s) reflection.
This testimony embraces all Chaplains as well. Thanks be to the Almighty.
thanks for sharing this progress, and the difference that is made in people’s lives by seeing their true self
What a precious experience, John!! Thank you for sharing it and for your ongoing commitment to serving those in prison, truly bringing them the Truth of being, blessing their lives. God Bless!
Mary Lou
An awesome example of perseverance in seeing through the human picture of a flawed mortal to the only real and true, the blessed child of God. Thank you for these inspiring short videos about lives transformed.
Divine Love is the Liberator and you just proved it for this man, his wife, the other incarcerated men who knew him, the guards, the judge, the court, yourself and us. Thank you for being a good and faithful servant- the laborers may be few, but the harvest is plenty!
Thank you, John. You are an inspiration to all of us doing this very rewarding prison work. I will be more diligent in seeing only the man of God’s creating every time I go.
Thank you John and David for sharing this! It’s so inspiring for us all and I love hearing about these spiritual steps to freedom!!
The transforming power of God, Love, is awesome. Thank you, Chaplain John, for letting your light shine and inspiring me to be a better transparency for God’s ever active love.
Thank you, John, for your faithful commitment to the good God has done. What a difference that makes to the whole community – even beyond the individual you worked with.
What a wonderful healing in seeing God’s perfect man. Thank you, Chaplain John, for sharing it!