Approximately two years ago I dreamed I was walking through the back gate of my sister's prison.  At the time of my dream, my sister was incarcerated in Gatesville, Texas for prescription fraud and I was caring for her children.  But, in my dream she was no longer there, yet because of her reputation, I had an instant acceptance and notoriety with the female inmates.  This dream haunted me so much so that I knew it was God trying to tell me something.  I thought it might be that He was calling me to prison ministry but I had no idea what to do or how to do it, and didn't have the desire to pursue it.  I had already written a transformational journaling program based on the Old Testament book of Ruth, and so I decided to appease God by dedicating it to women in prison.  A few months later my sister was released so I asked her to help me with the edits and provide some stories.  She agreed.  Somehow by a strange twist of events I ended up at a concert sitting next to a woman I felt compelled by the Spirit to talk to.  She told me about Bill Glass CFL.  I was haunted by it on every side until I finally called and agreed to sign up for the next event in Texas.  To my surprise, the next event in Texas was at my sister's prison.  A few weeks later, my sister was killed in an automobile accident.  I never got to tell her that I was signed up to her old prison.  (However, as I was sharing the story at her funeral, I realized the event was her birthday weekend.)  When we walked into her prison, I knew God had orchestrated everything. 

I was standing there with a group of 8 incarcerated women, and one of them broke the ice with, "So what are you in for?"  (I appreciated her humor!) I answered, "Well, my sister was in this very prison..." I was interrupted with, "What is her name?"  I said, "Angela DeFoor" and was interrupted again with the woman's gasp:  "She, she, ... did your sister die?"  "Yes, she did.  In a car accident.  How did you know?" I asked.  "Your mother wrote me a letter.  She was one of my best friends." 

There were four campus buildings and 1200 women incarcerated in Gatesville, yet the one I shook hands first happened to be my sister's best friend on the inside.  I'd never known of her but my mother said she had written one person to tell her of my sister's death.

At that, this woman took me to everyone she knew and introduced me as Angela's sister.  Women who did not go to the speaking event wanted to talk to me.  Not so much about her, as about the Lord.  They told me she was a light to them all.  That she would read her Bible in the day room and tell them that these walls are temporary.  If they put their hope in Jesus, they had a mansion in heaven. She would tell the women on death row that they were the most blessed ones.  When others left prison, they had to go back to a messed up world with messed up people.  But those on death row would leave this place and go straight to the arms of Jesus.  No one was beyond His healing and redemption.

When I signed up as a teammate, I thought God was going to use me to bless prisoners.  Instead, God used them and the Bill Glass event to bless me with the most incredible gift in the world.  My sister was a spiritual visionary.  She saw many of God's most precious jewels kept under lock and key.  For her the prison was a treasure chest, hidden away from the world.  I got to see, touch, and be forever changed by their glorious beauty in God's eyes.

Submitted July 20th, 2009

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