Week 30 - Karen White - Confidence in the Creator

Hey everyone, I’m Karen! I appreciate the opportunity to share a quick devotional today about something that has been on my heart.

The church I attend has established a presence across all Alabama Department of Corrections facilities, and we have recently expanded into Georgia. We don't view these locations as mere projects; they are extension campuses, and the men and women there are truly a part of our church family. Through connection cards, they share their lives and prayer requests with us, and we write letters back to pray over them and support their families.

Recently, I was struck by the words of a gentleman who has been incarcerated for 45 years. He is serving life without parole, meaning prison is his home for the rest of his life. I can't even begin to imagine that reality. Yet, in his correspondence, he wrote a line that completely blew me away: "I'm not a mistake."

Despite his physical environment, he possessed an incredible confidence in God. He knew that God designed him with specific strengths and created him on purpose, for a purpose, before the foundations of the earth were even laid.

His words made me reflect on my own life. It is easy to assume that because I have the freedom to move about, I am not in bondage. But the truth is, we all struggle. You might be dealing with an addiction or a secret sin that has kept you bound for decades. For me, my personal struggle has been a lifelong fear of the future.

I want to be free from that fear, and the good news is that we all can be. We can experience the exact same freedom as that gentleman in prison by anchoring our identity in our Creator rather than our circumstances or our sins. I am not the sum total of my mistakes, and you are not the sum total of your sin.

To close, I want to leave you with Ephesians 2:10, which reminds us that we are God’s workmanship—His masterpiece. We were created in Christ Jesus to do good works that He prepared for us long ago. If a man living out a life sentence can carry that kind of divine confidence and encourage others, so can we.

Thank you for joining me on the back porch today. Let’s carry this confidence forward and remember who our Creator says we are. Have a truly great day!