Sunday, June 2, 2019 -
Within days prior to having to self-surrender here at the front door of the Ashland Federal prison back on December 2, 2018, I received a visit in my office from a friend I used to go to church with but hadn’t seen in years. He’d heard somehow I was headed to prison and was concerned, not knowing the details, except for reading a few news reports from the leftist media. I filled him in with the truth and gave him quite a bit of the truth to read.
The day before I was to surrender, I received an electronic message from him, from which I took great encouragement.
But I hadn’t heard from him in nearly six months until a little over a week ago, when I received a very nice letter, saying he’s been meaning to write, and has a reminder to pray for me he sees every day, and does so often, along with his son. I was very happy to receive his letter.
But the amazing thing is that Kathie, completely unaware of it, sent me an email message that she had just found which this very same man had sent to me the day before I came to prison. And Kathie was so excited about it she wanted to remind me!
Here is the message:
“You will make a big difference in the life of many;
Don’t be afraid, God is with you;
You will be part of a change – a movement;
All wrong will be righted…From me to you, hold on to these words to encourage you.”
I would have held on to these words, but you are not allowed to bring anything with you other than your eyeglasses and your wedding ring. That’s it! And while for the first few weeks I did think on these words, I hadn’t thought about them in months, but I immediately remembered them the moment I read them on the computer screen.
But what struck me as most definitely a “God thing,” is the timing of Kathie finding the message on my cell phone. It demonstrates to me that there is no doubt validity to those words. And it certainly concurs with some of what God has been showing me in Scripture. What an amazing God we serve! Just when I am feeling discouraged, God always miraculously sends a message of encouragement!
It reminds me of the morning I was on the way to self-surrender. Four different people called me saying that God had told them that I was HIS Joseph for today. I continued to receive letters to that effect. And yes, I’ve read the story of Joseph a number of times since being here. It is encouraging until I consider the many years Joseph had to spend either as a slave or prisoner. But then, when I consider how God used that time to prepare Joseph for the amazing task God brought him to Egypt for, in hindsight Joseph believed it to be time well-spent, as he told his brothers. And what're three years in the span of eternity?
“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (II Peter 3:8).
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