Today I was blessed to participate in a special event behind the walls of NCCIW! I accompanied Amy Lynn and Tokishia to represent Newhope and join a group of other church and outreach representatives that would have the privilege of judging the decorating contest of the women’s “dorm” units.
This contest is something that many of these girls pride themselves on each year. There’s some pretty serious competition going on. Even the warden, the chaplains and the guards have their own ideas of who should win. But let me just say straight off…these girls CHOOSE whether or not they want to participate.
We were treated to some light snacks as this contest and the judging were explained to us. We were also told that this competition is taken very seriously by many and some of these girls have been working for months and some even since last years contest! We were promised a life changing experience…I had no idea!!!
Let me say – - – these girls were giving the basic materials you might find in an elementary school classroom to decorate with. Wrapping paper, construction paper, cotton balls, paint, cardboard, etc. What they did was turned them into creative works of art that were nothing short of A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. There were intricate fireplaces, Christmas trees, FURNITURE, ornaments, hanging decorations, elves, toys, gifts….the list goes on. We attended “Christmas Worship Services” and I mean sat down and were sung to!!! Each dorm had a “theme”. We saw theme’s the likes of Hope, Charlie Brown Christmas, Misfit Toys, Winter Wonderland, Home Sweet Home and even a Scrooge play.
We saw some amazing skits and presentations! I mean I can only imagine the time spent in rehearsing in addition to their decorating projects. There was a true spirit of community among many of these girls. I mean some of the quads had 100% participation from all of the girls. Remember…participating was a choice. And keeping it real…not all women chose to participate. But those who did totally put their hearts into this project!
Let me share some of the skits with you.
There was a skit representative of the life of the children who’s mothers are incarcerated. It started with a rambunctious “4 year old” who would be excited whenever she talked to her mom on the phone. The child came to the prison to visit and was heartbroken that her mom was not coming home for Christmas. Then it fast forwarded to the child as a teenager. Her mom would call and she did not want to talk to her. It made it very real that these women do not get to go home for Christmas…and it made it very real that their children may detach from them after some time of not being able to be “there for them” while they are in jail.
Now some of these girls went all out to “take us to church” for their skits.
One particular was called “The Gift”. One of the ladies was a woman who awakened by the Christmas tree excited about the gifts. But then Satan hovered over her as she opened the gifts and she would open each gift and then be overcome with thoughts planted by Satan. Then she found an unattractively wrapped gift and she opened it to find a cross…stained in the blood of Jesus. She held it and her own hands became stained. She then reflected on what the blood stain cross meant and said “I choose you Jesus” and the He came in and embraced her after a dramatic and emotional acceptance of Him..
Then there was a journey into “Caperneum!” A true to life representation of Caperneum, ya’ll!!! We sat and watched Mark chapter 5 unfold. This skit included a series of events centerred around, Jesus’s raising of Jairus’ daughter from the ‘dead’ and it even included the woman who was healed from her bleeding by touching Jesus’ robe through her faith as he travelled to Jairus’ home. And by the way as we watched the scenes unfold, we sat in the Synagogue – built by the women. It looked like…the Synagogue!!!! Let me just say, the work these women put into building this set was amazing. I wish I could show you pictures (no cameras or cell phones allowed) – but there was food they had made of paper, that looked like real whole fish, fruits and vegetables.
We took “Life’s Journey”. We travelled down a hallway of doorways marked by the 7 deadly sins! (Each dark door had a sign indicating the sin. I.e anger, envy, sloth). As we were led through…random women would individually appear along our path and then dark figures would come to …well take them to hell!!! They would beg and plead for Jesus to save them and He would read the scroll of their life and explain why they could not go with him. One young woman pleaded to Jesus, who told her she could have chosen him, but she chose drugs. One woman who “knew” Jesus, but he pointed out that she chose to be an adulterer, destroy children (abortion) and live sinfully. And one woman who went to church, but did not follow Jesus. The last woman pleaded as she was being pulled away that she knew and she followed Jesus. She struggled and fought the dark figure as Jesus acknowledged her, but told her that she had failed to do one thing…Forgive. He told her she needed to forgive herself. She continued to fight the dark figure and then Jesus led her out. He then led her (as we followed) to Heaven! And I mean if Heaven could be represented by material things these girls DID it. There were the guards of righteousness, beautiful angels, a RUNNING water fountain, a dinner table with chalices, the stairways bordered by “The lambs.” Honestly – it was one of the most beautiful things I’d seen! I truly got a taste of Heaven at NCCIW today!
Another dorm had us following Mary and Joseph as they went to the stable after the inn was full. We were led into the most amazing nativity scene I had…well ever seen. The ground was covered with leaves and the smell of dirt/earth just made it so real. Not to mention ladies were dressed as barn animals…and I mean they were on all fours wearing animal heads with moving mouths. The barn animals marvelled at the newborn baby Jesus and it was just as amusing as it was beautiful. The magi came in to lay gifts at the manger. After the animals explained to each other why this baby was so special, two of the ladies dressed as angels (with beautifully crafted wings) sang in the most beautiful harmony ever. I mean bring you to tears harmony.
Now, we were also blessed to visit death row and this is an experience all it’s own. A handful of women, aged and younger, who would never be leaving NCCIW were our presenters. Their theme was “A Precious Christmas”. It was poetically narrated and each element explained. There were cardboard Precious Moment children in the spirit of Christmas so intricately decorated. I mean imagine hair made of individual rings of construction paper! It was…well…in a word Precious. But let me tug your heart. Before we left one of these beautiful women led us in prayer. She prayed in thanks of our visit, she prayed for the season, but most of all she prayed that if there was anyone in the room who did not know Jesus that their heart would be opened to Him. This is a woman who’s circumstance had led her to a place where she would never live outside of the walls of NCCIW…and she was praying for salvation of others. GETCHA SOME OF THAT!
These were only a few of the beautiful presentations. If you asked me to pick which was my favorite, it would be impossible for me to choose. I think all of these women deserve to shine for bringing Him the glory today. That’s exactly what God did through them for me. He showed me that we have to make our spirit of joy in whatever circumstance we are in and it truly comes from our heart.
We had to get back to Durham after lunch and did not get to see a few of the dorms before we left. But I saw enough to know that God showed me the true spirit of Hope and Christmas today through these women. I mean these are women who through their circumstances and decisions are going to spend their Christmas (for some of them several Christmas and for others ALL of their Christmases) behind the walls of NCCIW and not with family.
Regardless of how or why they are there…these women are all beautiful daughters of God. They have gifts of art, speaking, poetry, song, acting…this is a TALENTED group of women!!! But think of this. They will not have real Christmas trees and some will not see any gifts or visitors on Christmas Day. Many will cling only to their memories of Christmas before they were behind the walls of NCCIW as we saw today in collages of pictures of their families and children in Christmas settings. Many of them will cling to each other as their support system for the day. I saw an amazing spirit of fellowship among many of these women. (NCCIW is an amazing collection of Life Groups!!!)
Today we saw their faith and their hope in our savior reflected through the time and work they put into their presentations to represent Him to us. We saw a true Spirit of His love represented by these women. There are so many more emotions that this visit stirred. But I think that this is the best I can do to put it into words. I will say one thing, if I could – I would totally spend Christmas with the women of NCCIW. There is so much to learn from them.
MERRY CHRISTMAS NCCIW!!!
