“You’re going to make wrinkles in your forehead,” the voice of my mother played in my mind as I walked out of the bus station. As part of a ministry called Light in the Gap, I had just been with a group who meet, visit, and pray with women just released from prison. Five days a week these newly-freed women come through the bus station in our town. From here they connect to cities all over Texas, where life on the outside awaits. The goal of this ministry is to fill this wait-for-the-bus gap with a smiling face, homemade cookies, a bag filled with items to help with a new start, a listening ear and a prayer. Connectors (women who go to the bus station to meet those just released) share the love of Jesus with those no-longer-prisoners as they step out of the prison van and into freedom.
Conversations with a few of the women this day weighed heavy on my mind. How in the world would they ever make it? It seemed the deck was stacked against them. I had a hard time envisioning their success on the outside. My wrinkled forehead came from a overwhelmed mind and heart. I wanted easy answers. If these women would just do this, that, and the other, all will be well. No more prison. There’s no such list that makes everything better. These women face an uphill battle.
As I prayed for them I was reminded that there is hope for even the most desperate of these women. The Jesus that we share with them can overcome any obstacle they face. The Savior that we serve loves each one of those women enough that He gave His life for them. He knows every circumstance they have encountered and every choice and situation that they will experience as they step into freedom and make choices between old and new, good and bad.
I am thankful that this hope and good news of Jesus is not just for the women who just got out of prison. Jesus is THE Light in the Gap. He died and rose again to bridge the gap of separation between a holy God and a sinful people. Though the deck may seem stacked against us, though there may seem to be little chance of our success, Jesus gives us hope.