Wednesday, April 25th, 2018
As Shirley put it, she was hard-core bad and spent 13 years in prison in Texas. She kept cycling back through jail because of her addiction to drugs.
She’s now a resident of Teen and Adult Challenge in Minneapolis. It’s there I heard her testimony on August 16 of last year when I gave the morning chapel message.
When she was in that Texas prison, a woman named Jasmine from Hutchinson, Minnesota, befriended her long distance. They would communicate by mail and phone. Jasmine eventually convinced her that whatever she did wasn’t enough to keep her out of jail or off drugs. Only God could set her free. One day it all came together for Shirley, and she came to God and accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior, and also as her Lord. She put Him in charge.
She moved up to Hutchinson after she got out of jail, at Jasmine’s invitation, and lived with her. Shirley was still fighting the urge to go back on drugs, and Jasmine had some of her friends praying for Shirley. One person’s name was Annie. Shirley knew her by name but had never met her. There were others praying for Shirley whom she had not met face to face. (to be continued)