Do you ever wonder why me? Why not you? Sometimes your pain determines your life purpose and your call to service and your obedience to the call can set the limits of your blessings. How do I know this?
Because several years ago when I received that very first collect “mom I’m in trouble” call, it was all about me: Why did it have to happen? Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently and or better? And how will I get through this? After many years of torturing myself to try to answer all these questions I finally realized in August 2009 that it wasn’t about me. It was about my life purpose to help others affected by incarceration.
Walking through the incarceration process with a loved one is like a surgical incision, a cut made to facilitate an operation or a procedure. Some people need multiple surgeries for the same problem and some only need one. I only needed one when I was 18 when I made the decision to take something that did not belong to me. The surgical procedure was to repair my thought process that it was ok to do wrong. The operation was a success and though it was almost 40 years ago I still have the scar as a reminder. My scar is my memory of the scene. My son required multiple operations for the same problem and while it did not take me long to heal and no physical therapy, his recovery period was a lot longer than mine and required extensive physical therapy.
Through my pain of walking through the incarceration process with my son I am now able to help others overcome their hurt, shame, guilt, and anger resulting from the effects of incarceration. At FAILSAFE-ERA we help the inmates through ministry, the returning citizen through education and rehabilitative services, the family member through group coaching, and the community though resources and tools to create successful productive returning citizens. Now is the time to begin your healing process.
