Christ Comes to Prison

Four days at a Kairos Prison Ministry Retreat transformed thirty women. The retreat included the usual items of talks, discussion, prayer, praise and worship—and much more.

However, the participants were female prisoners whom we team members call “residents.”

We saw the women come in with a sad or scared appearance. They sat at tables with women they didn’t know.

Little by little, we watched God work in their lives. A smile replaced their sad or scared appearance. Their conversation and laughter filled the room. They learned the songs and lifted their hands in praise to the Lord.

By the end of the retreat, the residents told us they came lonely, broken, ashamed, and feeling unloved. They knew nothing about God’s love and a relationship with Jesus Christ.

They were leaving with joy, God’s love, his forgiveness, and their forgiveness of others.

Each woman became a new creation in Christ, and God can do the same for you.

Dear God, help me see that Christ can transform anyone, even me. Amen.

Application: In what way can people see you are a new creation in Christ?
Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega May 8, 2012

We All Married Idiots

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Did we ALL marry idiots? What caused you to name a book, We All Married Idiots: Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can.
Years ago during an argument with my husband I thought, I must have been an idiot to marry this idiot! Then I burst out laughing realizing that makes me an idiot too! Later I learned the word “idiot” is derived from the Greek word “common man.” Well, aren’t we all common man? In fact there was only one uncommon man—Jesus Christ. When we look to our spouses to fulfill needs that only Christ can fulfill, then husbands and wives become dissatisfied with their marriages. So yes, we all did marry idiots; and so did our spouses.

2. What is the purpose of We All Married Idiots?
With the divorce rate around 50% for Christians and non-Christians, my heart is broken for marriages. Too many couples give up too soon for too little reason. They enter a second marriage only to realize, Ugh, this person is an idiot too! My purpose is to change that divorce statistic. We All Married Idiots will help couples enjoy marriage as God intended. One were their mate is esteemed as a gift to treasure not as an idiot to tolerate.

3. What are the three things you will never change?
The first is the idiosyncrasies. We all have peculiar habits and do little things that annoy. We’d like to change our spouse’s idiosyncrasies, but honestly that is not what we promised on our wedding days. I’ve been to a lot of weddings and never heard this vow, “I promise to make a mental note of everything you do that annoys me and remind you of it as long as we both shall live.”
The second is sin. We all married sinners. Why would we do that? I love Elisabeth Elliot’s answer, “There was no one else to marry!” We all sin and sin inflicts pain. There will be times you and your spouse will hurt each other.
The third is the differences. Men and women don’t think the same. We have different ways of solving problems.
I promise you there is conflict in the marriage of two idiotic sinners who don’t think alike. We can’t change the struggles, but we can change how we respond when the idiosyncrasies, the sin, and the differences arise.

4. Why will this book strengthen marriages?
We All Married Idiots teaches husbands and wives to stop concentrating on the three things they will never change and focus on the ten things they can change. Too often couples spend the majority of their conflicts trying to change the three things they will never change. Talk about hitting a wall!

5. What is your best piece of marriage advice?
Oh there’s so much good marriage advice. In marriage we need to examine ourselves. Funny. I’ve read through the Bible seven times searching for a verse that says, “Examine your spouse.” It’s not there. But the Bible does say “examine yourself.” Couples are too quick to point the blaming finger at each other rather than ask God to point Your finger at me and show me what I am doing wrong.
Another word of advice is to give up your life and your marriage to God and hold on. Don’t let go. The problems you have today could be gone in five or ten years. I just don’t love him or her anymore is not a reason for a divorce. You don’t feel love today, but you could fall back in love next week or in three years. Marriage is not a sprint. It is a marathon. Husbands and wives grow up, mature, change for the better. Keep running towards the goal God has for your marriage. Of course, if you are in an abusive situation, I advise you to flee to a safe place and receive professional Christian counseling.

6. Why did you write We All Married Idiots?
I tried to give up on my marriage, but I was married to a man determined to hold on and to glorify God. He was committed to me for a lifetime. What a great guy and an amazing man of God! I can’t imagine my life without him. Realizing what my life would have been had I divorced him makes me shudder. I wrote We All Married Idiots to save marriages from the pain I inflicted on myself and on Dan. I wrote to glorify God and to change that awful 50% divorce rate.
We All Married Idiots is a great tool for individual study or couples to study together. I’d love to see it used in small-group home meetings where you invite your neighbors to study it with you. Think about it. Fifty percent of our neighbors are headed for divorce. We could change that statistic by reaching out to them with a We All Married Idiots small group. The questions at the end of each chapter are not threatening and do not require a theological degree to understand. As one reviewer said, “This is the most accessible Christian book I have ever read.”

Purchase information: http://www.amazon.com/We-All-Married-Idiots-Marriage/dp/0984765522/

Habakkuk 2:1: “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me.”

Do you ever feel as though things are going wrong all around you and you want to hear from God? I do.

A woman told me she’s glad her children are grown because she wouldn’t want to raise them in this present society, but she’s worried about her grandchildren.

I felt sick to my stomach when a mother told me the kids at a local middle school celebrated a “National Marijuana Day.”

The rate of breast cancer has decreased 20% in the past ten years, but it is still rampant.

It’s time to do as Habakkuk did in the Old Testament. I will stand at my watch in my prayer room. I will station myself with my Bible.

I will continue to pray no matter what and “will look to see what [God] will say to me.” What about you?

Dear God, help me stand at my watch no matter what. Amen.
Application: When will you look to see what God will say to you this week?
Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega May 1, 2012

Habacuc 2:1: “Me mantendré alerta, me apostaré en los terraplenes; estaré pendiente de lo que me diga.”

¿Alguna vez se siente como sí todo fuera mal alrededor de usted y está pendiente de lo que Dios le diga? Yo sí.

Una mujer me dijo que está contenta de que sus hijos ya están crecidos porque no quisiera criarlos en esta sociedad, pero está preocupada por sus nietos.

Me enfermé del estómago cuando una madre me dijo que los niños en una escuela local celebraron “el día nacional de la marijuana.”

El cáncer de seno ha rebajado 20 por ciento en los últimos diez años, pero todavía está prevaleciente.

Es la hora de hacer lo que Habacuc hizo en el Antiguo Testamento. “Me mantendré alerta” en mi cuarto de oración. “Me apostaré en los terraplenes” con mi Biblia.

Continuaré a orar no importa lo que pasa y “estaré pendiente de lo que [Dios] me diga.” ¿y usted?

Querido Dios, ayúdame a mantenderme alerta no importa lo que pasa.

Aplicación: ¿Cuándo estará pendiente de lo que Dios le diga esta semana?

Derecho de propiedad literaria © por Yvonne Ortega el primero de mayo de 2012

We have the privilege of praying for our family, friends, and co-workers.

One mother prayed for the future husbands of her daughters since they were babies. When each daughter became engaged, the mother would tell the young man how she had prayed for him for years.

When I pray for others, I often ask God to fill them to overflowing with his wisdom, discernment, knowledge, and understanding.

In our daily activities, we meet people at the post office, the gas station, the beauty shop, the grocery store, our place of employment, and other places. Let’s pray for them.

I sometimes ask people how I can pray for them. They are surprised that someone wants to pray for them and thank me afterward.

Let’s pray for our doctors and dentists. We want good care, don’t we?

Don’t forget our church staff and their families need our prayers every day.

Dear God, help me pray daily for my loved ones. Amen.
Application: Which special people will you pray for this week?
Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega April 17, 12

Late this afternoon I returned from a speaking engagement in Richmond, VA for Stonecroft Ministries.

I love to speak for this group because the mission of Stonecroft is to equip and encourage women to impact their communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Women from several denominations attend a luncheon or a dinner and bring their family members and friends.

The emphasis is on unity, not denominations. It is the only way we can let a hurting world know how much God loves us.

Notice the phrase, “complete unity.” This leaves no room for anything except love, mercy, compassion, and tenderness.

Dear God, help me do my part to bring complete unity. Amen.

Application: What will you do this week to let the world know God loves them?

Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega April 10, 12

I would have cried as I stood outside the tomb as Mary Magdalene did.
I can’t imagine her shock when she looked into the tomb. Jesus wasn’t there. John 20:12 says she “saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.”
In verse 13, the angels asked her why she was crying.
She answered, “They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.”
When she turned around, she saw Jesus standing there. She didn’t expect to see him and didn’t recognize him.
In verse 15, Jesus asked, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
I don’t know how Jesus maintained his composure when Mary Magdalene thought he was a gardener and wanted to know where he had taken Jesus.
Yet he spoke only her name, and she recognized him.
Like Mary Magdalene, we serve the risen Savior. One day he will call us by name, and we will recognize him too.
Dear God, thank you for raising Jesus Christ from the dead. Amen.
Application: What will you do this week to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus?
Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega April 2, 12

“My husbands lived on the edge. Each marriage was exciting, but it didn’t last,” a woman told me in a discussion of her three marriages.

The woman admitted she was attracted to wicked men. She said good men were boring. However, each of her wicked husbands left her in a worse financial situation than she had been before.

Those evil men initially brought her excitement. In time they were violent and brought her far more trouble than excitement.

No wonder God tells us not to envy wicked men and not to desire their company. Men can also fall into the snare of wicked women.

God loves us so much that he warns us against wicked people to protect us, his children.

Enough violence and trouble exist in our world without desiring the company of people who thrive on those things.

Dear God, help me seek the company of good people. Amen.

Application: What will you do this week to avoid the company of the wicked?

Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega March 27, 2012

May God bless you richly.

Kairos is a Greek word that means the right or opportune moment.

Since Kairos Prison Ministry began in 1976 in Florida, more than 300,000 incarcerated men and women have been introduced to the Christian community known as Kairos.

Kairos has been recognized as the most effective program available to positively change basic attitudes of those incarcerated.

Volunteers from a variety of Christian traditions share the love of Christ with those impacted by incarceration.

The Kairos Inside program currently operates in 350 prisons in thirty-one states in the USA and in eight other countries.

The Kairos Outside program is active in nineteen states, Canada, England, Australia and South Africa.

Kairos Outside is the same program as inside only outside the prisons for women who have loved one(s) in prison.

To see if your state or country is involved in this ministry, go to www.kairosprisonministry.org. Check on the “locations” tab.

This is a powerful and rewarding ministry.

Remember Matthew 31:34, 36-37, and 40:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. . . . I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you . . . in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

Many times we focus on the problem instead of on God.

In 2 Kings 4:1, a widow does just that. She tells the prophet Elisha her husband is dead and “his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

When we tell someone about our problem, we don’t expect the person to ask us what we have in our home. However, in verse two, Elisha not only asks how he can help her. He also asks the widow, “What do you have in your house?”

She doesn’t ask what kind of a crazy question that is. She answers that she has a little oil.

Elisha doesn’t ask her what she expects to do with a little oil, but someone else might have.

In verses three and four, he tells her to ask all her neighbors for empty jars and then go in her house with her sons, close the door, and pour oil into all the jars.

Would we have obeyed? The widow does. Verses five and six tell us she pours oil until all the jars are full. God loves to shower us with blessings.

When the widow has no more jars to fill, the oil stops flowing.

What a woman of faith. In verse seven, she goes back to Elisha and tells him what happened. He simply says, “Go sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

Dear God, help me focus on you when I have a problem. Amen.

Application: What solution has God offered you that you’ll obey even though it doesn’t make sense?

Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega March 13, 2012

May God bless you richly.