is how loved and close she feels to God – the
amazing thing is, she says, “I have never been
happier or felt better in my life, than the way
I am now. Do you think that is strange? I am
reassured by all of Paul’s words, that he
wrote from prison while awaiting death, and
feel comforted by his indepth teachings.
Living life with God just changes everything”
she says. “Being in prison, yet feeling this
way.”
The wonderful thing about Sister D is that she
is always able to speak to other prisoners
about her faith and trying to tell them about
the wonderful news of the coming of Jesus.
There is so much to look forward to and
not so much to look back upon.
Further in her letter she says “It must
be a most beautiful day outside today
with the sun shining and not a cloud in
the sky – I feel so blessed to be able to
see a patch of sky from my window-
what joy it brings. The weather is
already starting to warm up and the
days lightening and lengthening once
more – best of all the birds are coming
back. I woke this morning to the
loveliest sound of a little sparrow singing
away perched on the bars outside my window
– what a joy! I am thinking of your little
canary bird singing in your home while you are
having your Church services on Sunday morn-
ings.”
She has been learning how to do Japanese
floral arranging – Origami, and she enjoys
doing that. I notice in her letter that she is
trying so hard to live a Christlike life in prison.
She quotes from the virtuous woman in
Proverbs and tells me of a friend who cannot
forgive another. She can hear the pain in her
voice on the telephone, so she has gently
explained that it always
easier to follow the ways of the
Master and forgive until 70
times 7, as Jesus has shown her a better way.
She was asked to repeat this, so she did, and
then her friend went silent. She has obviously
grasped these principles of living in Christ, and
she truely tries to put them into practice in
her life, in one of the most difficult places on
earth.
In conclusion in her last letter, she says she is
glad that she is safe, and that she is allowed
to be a Christadelphian in the country she is
in, with her own beliefs. She has been reading
the Gospel News and feels for the other
Brothers and Sisters she reads about, and what
they go through, bearing up under a heavy
load. She says it makes her thank God for all
her blessings, and being able to embrace her
faith. She sends all her Brothers and Sisters
her love.
She finishes her letter with the words of Isaiah
35:10 “And the ransomed of the Lord shall
return and come to Zion with singing, ever-
lasting joy shall be upon their heads – they
shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and
sighing will flee away”. Even so........come
Lord Jesus.
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