A Longing To Serve Him

by Peggy Pence

A few months ago, Debbie Roeger asked if I would be willing to write about "What brought me to this place?" I first needed to figure out what "this place" was. As I prayed about it, God allowed me to see that "this place" was a place of longing to serve Him. My husband and I were married in 2000. He is a case manager at Ross Correctional (RCI). That didn't mean too much to me. I just knew he worked at a prison, was in charge of programming and seeing to it that the inmates he was in charge of had a place to go upon release. In 2003 God began to tug at our hearts to do something. We were both saved but we were not doing anything for God. My husband asked if I wanted to attend an intercessory prayer meeting at RCI. This was the first time in my life that I had a desire to go inside the prison walls. I never expected to have that desire. I was like everyone else I knew, in that, the people behind bars were being punished for their crimes and I didn't want to have any part in connecting with them. I really didn't give them any thought. When I attended the first Community Intercessory Prayer meeting held at RCI in May, 2004, I was astonished, amazed, overwhelmed and guilt-ridden. The prayer meeting was like nothing I had ever seen before. God showed up!!! I could feel His presence and it felt great! I was guilt-ridden because I now saw the faces behind those prison walls and they looked like everyone else. I realized that each person in there had a soul and that God loved them just like He loves all of us on the outside. That experience changed my thinking. I knew there was something I needed to do, but I didn't know what. I continued to go to the monthly prayer meetings and praying that God would show me how He wanted to use me. My husband was involved with various Christian programs at RCI and was being blessed by being involved with them. He began to enjoy his work in a whole new way. I knew God was working on us. My husband was able to be involved in an Opening Doors® program for staff called Opening Doors In The Workplacesm and later trained to be a facilitator. He came home each night trying to share with me his experience but he struggled to explain. He finally said, "You just have to be there to understand." All I knew is that I wanted to be a part of that program. As time passed I was able to change jobs and work from home. This allowed me the opportunity to experience Opening Doors® for myself when I participated in the January 2006 program held at Marion Correctional. I absolutely loved the program and I was so blessed by the other people who participated. The inmates really seemed to love and benefit from this program too. I hope to facilitate a program some day soon. I realize that what has brought me to this place is a longing to serve God. I was saved 15 years ago so I felt "OK," and that seemed to be "the end of the story." Not So!! We were made by God and for God and I have a burning desire inside to serve Him and thank Him for what He did for me. I lost 15 years of not serving God, but I don't want another day to go by that I don't spend time serving Him. I love Him and I want others to know Him. I pray that through this ministry and others we will be able to show God's love to those we come in contact with. Thank you Debbie for your dedication and love to our Father in heaven. I want to encourage others to get busy for God. ♥