So many of the letters we get from prisoners start out the same: “I hope someone reads this …,” “I don’t have anyone left out there …,” or “I haven’t received a visit or a letter in years. I’m hoping you will help me know God …”
But the letter from Joe, a long-time prisoner in Virginia, was different. “[Prison Fellowship founder Chuck] Colson’s life and prison ministry impacted my life in such a way that it’s hard to describe,” he wrote. “I was once a recluse and would not even as much as talk to anyone. I was a loner. I was always angry at people for the mere facts that they seem to look down upon me for being a prisoner. So I had this attitude of well, if they don’t care about me, I sure … don’t care about them.”
Joe went on surrounded by relational walls until the day Prison Fellowship connected him with volunteers who started writing to him regularly.
“I never in my entire life dreamed that there could be such loving people out there in the free world,” Joe’s letter continued. “God works in many ways. My life has changed for the better. I don’t have no animosity in my life for no one anymore. Nothing but love for all of humanity. That’s how Mr. Chuck Colson’s life and ministry changed my life.”
Friend, you and I are God’s valentines, and He sends us out to the lost, the unloved, and the despairing – including prisoners like Joe – to represent His true, unconditional love. That love changes everything. Learn how you can help spread the message of God’s love on Valentine’s Day and throughout the year at www.prisonfellowship.org.