Guest Blog
by Maridel Williams
Executive Director, Doors of Hope
“Hopeless”. Is there a sadder word in the English language? By that same token, is there a more comforting word than HOPE?
Ministry to the incarcerated brings us into contact with hopeless people on a daily basis. Whether brought on by abuse, poverty, poor choices, or one of a hundred other causes, the end-result is the same: crippling, overwhelming hopelessness.
While dealing with the call to this ministry, I was drawn to the Old Testament story of Hosea and his chronically errant wife, Gomer. Like everyone else, I love the over-arching point of the book: the never-failing love of God for His ever-failing people. In Hosea 2:14-15, Gomer had gone missing again, running the streets, chasing men, committing adultery, forsaking her children, her home, and the man who loved her. And, God was instructing Hosea to go find her yet again. Hosea has a plan: “I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a Door of Hope.”
Bible scholars remember that Valley of Achor as the plain near Jericho where Achan was found to have stolen some of the goods devoted to God from the conquest of Jericho (Joshua 7). The punishment exacted to Achan and his family was devastating. At the end of the day, nothing but smoldering ashes remained of what once was a family. Sin exacts a dreadful toll. “The wages of sin is [always] death.” (Romans 6:23) That valley was ever after known as the valley of trouble.
It is in that valley of trouble that we first meet our clients. What an unspeakable joy to be the agent that delivers the good news to one sitting in the ashes of his or her life: God is ready to turn your valley of trouble into a door of hope. What an opportunity for the discipler to “give a reason for the hope”! (I Peter 3:15)
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Realizing the opportunity to see lives impacted with the loving gospel of Jesus, Maridel left her job with United Way in 2010 and founded a full-fledged outreach ministry to women housed at Rutherford County’s Correctional Work Center. To date, ninety-seven women have been touched by Maridel and an army of female volunteers (“Godmothers”) that disciple, serve, and do follow-up mentoring when women are released from RCCWC. Her work, by the way, is the direct reason Timothy Network was recently invited to join Doors of Hope in establishing a men’s discipling ministry at the Work Center. We are thankful to be aligned with Maridel and the organization she directs. The Kingdom of God does indeed bring hope to the hopeless. Mike
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