I used to talk to your picture

One of the girls was crying last night at the prison. I wondered what happened? I wondered if I should ask? I was told that she had been talking on the phone and was really upset. Her eyes were red and very swollen when she walked in.

I didn't get to talk to her until afterward. I hugged her big. And told her I was praying for her. She told me that she got a letter from her daughter for the very first time. Then, as she was pulling it out from her pocket she told me that she wanted to read me something.

Her daughter turned 16 in May. She hasn't seen her since she was a baby. She's been incarcerated for a very long time.

She had a three page letter filled on both the front and back in precise teenage print. Flipping back and forth from her excitement, she finally found the sentences she'd been looking for. It read, "I used to carry a picture of you everywhere I went when I was little. I always wanted to talk to you, but since you weren't there, I used to talk to your picture. I didn't know where you were. No one would tell me. But I used to tell your picture that when I turned sixteen I was going to go and find you and that no matter where you were, I'd bring you back home again."

She cried as she read it. I did too. And then she said with tears streaming from her eyes, "I've been a horrible mom!" I said, "Haven't we all in some way or another? That's why we have redemption!"

I'm so happy for her! Happy that after all these years she's finally heard from her girl. Happy for the excitement it brings. Happy... but sad too. Sad for the guilt she feels, because she has it. Sad that she wants to do something to make up for all that's happened, but she's stuck behind bars and can't get out to do it. God can still restore what's been broken, even while behind bars. But I know she wants to get her hands on her... and to have a daily relationship and encounter with her baby girl.... who, I'm sure, greatly needs her mother!

Wow, sin costs a lot... for a long time... for everybody! I hate it's deception and it's trap once you fall for it. Thank God for a Savior that's able to ransom, redeem, and restore it. Tonight, I'm praying for both this mom and her daughter... for God to do a mighty tapesty work of mending, and weaving a display of His Splendor on both of their canvases when done. And I'll thank Him too... for giving a renewed hope for two broken-hearted girls... and for a Savior that came to bind up those hearts that have been broken and to set free the captives.