Böcker av Sandi Huddleston-Edwards

A Journey from Brokenness to ReconciliationThrough Scottie's acceptance of God's love, she learned her greatest blessing was God's sacrificial gift of love, grace, and mercy. Her newfound inner joy and peace allowed her to embody compassion, humility, and forgiveness. Her father's salvation became her life's ambition even though it would be forty-one years before she heard the words, "I love you, Scottie."

God told me a long time ago He was in charge, and I know now from the things I've gone through (Marine, bootcamp, sheriff, death of best friend, highway patrolman), He is exactly right. I am more at peace after losing my girls than I've ever been before. It has taken this long for God to teach me a bunch of lessons. I thought I knew it all, but I didn't. He taught me whenever there's a storm in your life, if you have a strong belief system in Me, that storm is not going to bother you. But if you don't, that storm is going to eat you up.My faith is why I made it through the storms. I've always been able to emerge from the depths, but there was a time I wondered if I ever would again. The Good Lord gave me strength by showing me a falling star.

All of Jaime's life, he felt rejected and as if he didn't belong and no one cared. He turned to the crowd that would accept him: Those dealing in drugs, those committing crimes, and those getting in fights. That's the only world he knew. After landing in jail numerous times and pulling prison sentences several times, Jaime was totally lost. He knew he would die in prison once he received his 25 year sentence. But God had different plans for Jaime. God used others to get him out of prison so that he could become an evangelist for God. Today, he travels all over the country and to seven foreign countries to spread God's Good News.

This heartwarming devotional is inspired by letters, prayers, and poems written by the inmates, parents, volunteers, and caregivers. It is comforting to know that during our darkest times of loneliness and loss or when we experience overwhelming feelings of disconnectedness and frustration, God never leaves us. The mission of Forgiven Ministry is to meet the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of the children of inmates, the inmates themselves, ex-inmates, and families of inmates, with the result of healing wounds inflicted by crime, redirecting lives, and restoring these individuals into the community as productive citizens, parents, and family members. By encouraging change from within the individual, we can reduce recidivism, stop the cycle of crime, avoid the waste of human capital, and lessen the burden that offenders and their families place on society. Research has shown that as many as 70 - 80 percent of the children of inmates eventually end up in prison themselves. It's like a rite of passage, with fathers seeing their sons in the same prison dining hall, wearing the inmate uniform, doing time just like them - caused by generations of hurt, resentment, convictions, and shattered families. At one prison in Michigan, there were five generations of one family incarcerated in the same prison. Preventing an at-risk child from turning to gangs, drugs and crime is one of the most important ways to make our communities safe and productive for our children in the future" (Forgiven Ministry).

Preventing an at-risk child from turning to gangs, drugs, and crime is one of the most important ways to make our communities safe and productive for our children in the future. Reaching, reconciling, and restoring lives by encouraging change from within the individual, can reduce recidivism, stop the cycle of crime, avoid the waste of human capital, and lessen the burden that offenders and their families place on society.

On May 31, 1979, the murders of three dedicated law officers scarred the lives of their loved ones, peers, and countless friends when James Hutchins, a reportedly "good-hearted man until he took a drink," shot the officers in cold blood. Blinded by unscathed innocence and naiveté, two aspiring authors research these horrific murders to understand what made Hutchins tick. Their encounter with the enigmatic Lefrere leads them on an unexpected journey of self-discovery and atonement as he reminds them of God's grace and mercy, which makes forgiveness possible, no matter the sin.