I WAS LOCKED DOWN IN 1988 AND IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE CHAPLAINS AND FELLOW CHRISTIANS, I WOULD HAVE LOST MY MIND! I HAD ALREADY LOST MY FAMILY,CAREER, AND ALL HOPE OF ANY KIND OF FUTURE. WHILE THERE I STUDIED AND GAINED A MASTERS IN THEOLOGY.
I HAVE SINCE BECOME AN ORDAINED MINISTER, MARRIED THE MOST WONDERFUL CHRISTIAN WOMAN IN THE WORLD, AND HAVE BEEN ACTIVE IN PRISON MINISTRY FOR THE LAST TEN+ YEARS. I FOUND OUT THAT WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE NO WAY OUT, LET GOD IN.:)

It is so nice to see you help those left behind! So many time sI have been through this, your freinds, well you had thought them to be freinds, even relatives, so quickly forget about you! How could they consider to be freinds, much less your own family and then drop you like a piece of trash? I cn not figure it out! Even with his brother, he sure made a point to call here once a month COLECT when he was down. Now that he is free, hell mabey every 3 months he will call and see how he is doing but then he usually wants to know something else as well!. Can't pick that pen up, I guess his hands are to good for that! Welcome to the group. I hope you enjoy being around and helping us here on the feilds of wheat!



P.S. CONGRATS on your marriage!!

DIANE, SOMETIMES PEOPLE WANT TO GO ON TAKING AND HAVE NO THOUGHT FOR OTHERS. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, I REMEMBER JUST GETTING OUT AND I WAS REALLY OVERWHELMED WITH THE NEW LIFE I HAD TO START . I HAD A HARD TIME KEEPING MY PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. NOW MY EYES ARE ON THE LORD.
LOOK UP!!!
LEE

Some have asked for more, so here it is.
MY STORY

I find myself in a large cell holding twelve other men. I don't know them. I am alone and I really have no idea what is going to happen to me.
I'm 44 years old, away from my family for the first time in 16 years. I miss my wife, my daughter, and my son. I worry about them and how they are holding up through all this. I wound up staying in this situation for another two months. My sentencing was finally scheduled and I was going to find out if I was going to prison or on probation. After all, I had never been in jail before and I only had three traffic tickets in my whole life!
The sentencing came and I was on my way to the Wyoming state pen. During my wait I had only talked to my wife twice and my children once. The day after my sentencing, I went before the judge one more time. This time for a divorce. My wife had decided that she could not be with me anymore and that my children could not be with me either. The stress and depression of those two events one day apart were almost more than I could stand. I had been away from my family during Thanksgiving and Christmas and soon I would be away from them for a very long time. I needed to find some kind of solace from somewhere or go mad.

I could feel myself going deeper and deeper into depression as the date came for me to be transferred to the prison. I began, like a lot of others who have found themselves in my situation, reading a copy of the Bible. It helped but I had a hard time understanding most of it. I read it from cover to cover. My favorite book was the Psalms and I found comfort there.
About three weeks before being transferred to the state prison, I was taken out of the cell and made a trustee. I had a hunch that God was already working in my life. One morning while I was waiting for a load of wash to get done

I was reading in the first part of the Old Testament and I asked God "what am I going to do now? What is going to happen to me now that my life , as I knew it, was over?" I heard a voice say, "Follow Me". I looked around and I was by myself. No guard, no prisoner, no one was there, and yet I heard that voice as plain as hearing anyone's voice. I began to weep.
After being transferred to the state prison, the prison chaplain got in touch with me and I started to attend Bible study meetings. My thirst for the Word of God was growing to such an extent that I needed a more intensified study then I was getting. I asked the chaplain if there might be a correspondence course I could take in order to further my studies. He told me of a course that he was taking, and in about a month I was starting to work on my masters in

theology! This was a Godsend!!! I earned my masters while I was locked
down. God had not only, as He had done with Jacob, made me forget all of the problems of my past life, He had also made me prosper in the land of my affliction!
I finished my studies at the same time that I was paroled! Imagine that!!! During the year that I was on parole, I tried to reconcile with my ex-wife and I was able to see my children for the first time in a long time. That was wonderful, however my ex-wife didn't want anything to do with me and although I kept trying, she had other plans for her life.

I found a good Bible believing church and I started to become involved in various ministries through the church. I met the most wonderful Christian woman and after a short time we were doing ministries together. We went to a meeting held by the Prison Fellowship organization and we signed up to take the training necessary to begin to go into the jail in our home town to do Bible studies. I was

worried that I wouldn't be allowed to go into the jails because of my past record, but after a short investigation, I was allowed to take part in the Bible studies. Another Godsend!!!!! As a matter of fact, everything that happened to me after taking Jesus as my savior and Lord was a God- send!!!
Right before I started seeing Cindy, that wonderful Christian woman who I had met at the church, my ex-wife let me know through my daughter that she was going to get married. All attempts at

getting back with my ex-wife stopped and I started to talk to Cindy and we dated for about a year. We were married and my life has not been better since! We continued to do our prison ministry and I even got to go back to the very prison I lived in to do Bible studies through the prison fellowship group.
God has blessed me in so many ways. I am working at a job that pays about a third of what I used to make before prison, but we lack for nothing.. God provides for all of our needs and then some!!!!

We have seen many lives changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The blessings that come from this are untold!! This is why Cindy and I take part in prison ministry. We try to make sure that others can receive the blessings that we have received.
" For I was hungered, and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick and and you visited me: I was in prison, and you come unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him saying Lord when saw we thee hungered, and feed thee? or thirsty and give you drink? When saw we you a stranger, and took you in? or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Varily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me."( Matt. 26:34-40)
With such a statement from our Lord Jesus Christ, we see the importance of reaching out to the poor, the lost, and the forsaken of this world. We must also remember the victims of foolish past behaviors and reach out to them also. This is why we do it, This is why we go out into the jails and prisons to try and reach the lost with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ!!!! Be Blessed- Lee and Cindy



If you are in need of someone to talk to regarding your eternal soul or need help in finding and accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, please contact us at
placesofrefuge@yahoo.com

Good Job:


This is probably the most important thing you will ever do in your lifetime. There are not very many real christian people who do ministries at the prisons. Each one of the prisoners need this in order to get through their days incarcerated. If they have faith and hope through Christian Ministries then they will become better persons once they come outside.
Donna