A Call to Prayer

This morning, August 19th started out like any other morning. I fired up the laptop and went to my hotmail account to check my emails. The first one that caught my eye was from Rena. Rena is an inmate in the same prison as Krista. She is one of our "daughters" as we along with some friends are her only support. I clicked on the message and as my eyes moved across the lines it seemed my brain couldn't take in the words. She was telling me that they had taken Krista to R & D...R & D is receiving and departures! Why would they take her there? I read the fear written between the lines in Rena's email and instantly responded back . I asked her to email if she heard anything. If they were moving Krista then word would trickle back to the girls through the guards. Tears began to course down my cheeks as I just felt so helpless. I didn't know what was happening to her, what were they doing? I called Frank at work and instantly he was concerned.


Krista has been told she is going to be able to go to a prison camp but the paper work has not even been started. If she was being moved it wasn't to a prison camp it would be to another prison. They could send her anywhere in the United States. Moving is a stressful experience as you are shackled together with other inmates and your chains are locked to the floor of the plane and your hands to your waist. I woke Jaron, our son, filled him in and he just looked dazed. We just all felt so helpless, so in the dark...a feeling that is so out of control. I called some friends and asked for prayer.





I had to go to work but was in tears. I walked into the shoe department and my manager saw me and instantly came and put her arms around me and asked what was wrong. I sobbed out what I could and went into the back stock room. I needed to get myself under control. I walked to the back of that stock room and sobbed like a baby. I leaned against a metal shelf and just let the tears come. Pent up emotions of fear, the what ifs and the need to be there for my child.





I was putting a shoe on a lady when my cell rang. I excused myself and another worker immediately saw me and took over my customer so I could go in the back. I looked at the face of my cell phone and it said Unavailable I.D ...it was Krista. Her voice came on, quiet, quivering, frightened..."Mom? Mom, they took me to a doctor outside the prison." I asked her why and then I heard an answer that felt like someone socked me in the gut..."Mom, the doctor told me I have cervical cancer!"





The rest of the conversation felt like a blur. She explained the procedure they did today. She told me about being taken in the office in her handcuffs and leg shackles. How she felt so embarrassed as she was led by other patients in the waiting room. She had no clue what she was doing there. She had a pap smear in January and nothing was said. They took her into a room and the guard sat down beside her. The doctor came in and informed Krista that she had cancer. "My jaw hit the floor,Mom!" She went on to tell me how she just felt numb but that the female guard with her began to ask the doctor questions, questions that needed to be asked but Krista was too floored to think to ask.



The bottom line is this...they sent a sample away and within 2 weeks we all will know what stage it is in. The treatment will then be decided.



Krista called again tonight and as she sobbed her fears came out clearly. She is afraid of how advanced it may be and she is afraid she will never be able to bear children. Krista had never wanted anything more than to be a mother.

I told her that we would all pray...



So my friends...I am asking you, Krista is asking you...please pray that this is just an early stage and can be treated easily. This is a call to prayer...a call for God to show up as He has so many times before. I have seen the hand of God save her very life from the brink of death as a loaded cocked pistol was pressed inside her mouth, I have seen God help overcome the darkness that would steal her very soul, I have seen His hand guide the paperwork that sent her to W.V to be with friends who can care for her and I have seen the power of His grace. He has shown Himself in ways I did not recognize until later, I have seen Him in the midst of tears, in laughter, in the complex issues and the simple joys of life...He was there and He is here. I believed Him then, I believe Him now. He gave grace then, He'll pave the road before us with grace and I will wrap His love, mercy and healing around my child who sits behind fences, walls and guard towers!