Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here!
When I received that middle of the night phone call that my son had been arrested, it was my next to the worst nightmare. Then following year, my son was convicted and sentenced to prison.
After being in church for about 15 years, I turned to the first place I knew to turn to when there’s trouble–the church. However, my church, though loving and compassionate, did not know what to do for me.
Then as I walked the journey for a while, I began to meet others. God was faithful to place people in my path here and there that guided me. However, the prison family group seemed to be incognito. Difficult to find.
At the beginning of this journey a colleague suggested I journal my experiences because later I’d be encouraging others.
Honestly, my pain was so significant, I could not imagine helping other people. I felt so much guilt, shame, and condemnation all I wanted to do was hide until the Lord was ready to take me home.
I know that so many of you on this prison family journey feel the same way. As I’ve began sharing publicly, so many of you began sending me messages privately. (And I’m glad you do!)
In the process of walking this out, the Lord began to heal me from the inside out. He began to take away the pain, fear, worry, dread, doubt, and cynicism that came with the trauma of having someone you love going to prison.
Healing is process. We’re all a work in progress. Thank God HE loves us so much that HE never leaves us in despair. He meets us in the midst of our pain and walks us out. Today I’m in a much better place than I was when this started.
If the Lord did this for me, HE will do it for you! The key is yielding to His work, trusting Him, and walking in His truths. In doing so, we come into the FORTRESS and there we find HOPE. Welcome to Fortress of Hope!
“I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2 ESV).
