Kairos Report

Lives were Changed at Kairos #34!

How blessed we were to “listen, listen, love, love” the 29 residents that God chose for Kairos #34! How grateful we are for Covenant’s support through monetary donations, cookies, colored pictures, personal notes, and prayers! God truly showed up in an amazing way, and lives were changed!

Among the participants were a mother and daughter who hadn’t looked each other in the eye or spoken to each other in over three years, though they were living in the same dorm! The Kairos community at LCIW had been praying they would both be able to attend the week-end, and at the last minute, the mother was picked from the alternate list. She had been hospitalized, because she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was so clear that God was in control of their relationship, and His ways were not our ways. Friday morning, during a chapel service, in the middle of the first meditation on Forgiveness, the daughter had a grand mal seizure. We witnessed the mother on her knees and crying out to Jesus to help her “baby”, and we knew there was hope for their relationship. Their “walls” continued to come down, and they began to share hugs, as the Week-end progressed. The mother does have some emotional issues, and they need a lot of healing, but I know the Kairos community will stay after them to keep reaching out.

Also participating were 2 women who professed to be Wiccans. We had heard the Wiccan “religion” is growing rapidly at LCIW, and it’s a very welcoming social group for all the young prisoners. They worship a goddess and nature and have the philosophy that if you’re not hurting anyone, then do what you want. These two women were “lost” and searching for truth and had been drawn into this popular group. As early as Friday morning, one of the Wiccans told the rest of the participants at her table family, “You can trust these women. Look at their eyes.” This particular woman presented herself as “tough”, but she was humbled, broken, forgiven, and cleansed, as she shed tears that had been held back all her life. She never knew what it felt like to be loved! The Kairos community cheered at Closing for both of these Wiccans who had received Jesus! It was this community who had submitted their applications and prayed for them.

These are just two stories of the transformations we saw in the women during the Week-end, but there were so many more! In their own words, the women said they arrived on Thursday night, “hopeless”, “unforgiven”, “blaming others”, “stressed”, “scared”, and “unloved”.    During the Week-end, they experienced “direction”, “a new family”, “mind-blowing love”, “mercy from Jesus”, “people who actually cared without wanting anything in return”, and “true forgiveness”.

One said, "If you came to Kairos, and you didn’t meet Jesus, you didn’t come to Kairos.” Another followed up by saying, “If you came to Kairos, and you didn’t change, you were sleeping!” And a third added, “I believe the antichrist would be changed at Kairos!”

Praise God, who was able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we could have asked or imagined – to Him be the glory!

Carol Amo, Jennifer & Susie Blanchard, Melissa Bowen, Betsy Corley, Mary Fontenot, Donna Guidry, Shari Mirgon