Life Interrupted by Murder and Prison with Carol and Gene Kent (episode 16)

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Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you're lost in a scary and endless wilderness? Welcome

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to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass and I spent more than 15

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years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey.

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Well, welcome back to When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am so excited that you are here

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today for this session that we're having. It's going to be so special. My very special

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guests are Eugene. Oh no, he said Gene. Gene and Carol Kent. And they have had an amazing

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ministry. Carol has started the Speak Up ministries that includes training on speaking and smaller

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groups now and a master class and all sorts of things. And Gene basically is the behind

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the scenes making it all stay together. And that's wonderful. But what we'll really hear

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from them today is because they have a ministry called Speak Up for Hope. And that's because

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of a very challenging and hard event in their life. And they're going to tell us a little

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bit about it. So Carol and Gene, thank you for being here. Welcome. And I just have a

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first question for you. And that is give us a little of the background that especially

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led into Speak Up for Hope. Okay. Judy, you've already gotten me in trouble with my mother

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for... She would be very happy that you called me Eugene though. That's who I did it for.

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Moms need all the affirmation they can get. They certainly do. And she would probably

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say that I was a prodigal but not very long. Of course, out of three brothers, she loved

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me the most. Of course. And that just does bring up our past, which I grew up in a family

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that... We lived in a little town in Michigan and my father worked on the railroad. We never

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went to church. At least I should say my mom and dad never went. They would send us three

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boys. I'm the oldest of three boys. They'd send us down the street to a church. And so

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I just remember going to a Sunday school class there, but I never really heard the gospel.

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But when I was in the ninth grade, a new family moved to town and they had a red haired daughter

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who was in my class. And I knew her name was Carol and that's about all I knew about her.

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And so we just knew each other in school. This was Carol Affman. And anyway, for a couple

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years everything went along. My dad though had an ulcer when I was in the 11th grade

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and he was hospitalized. While he was in the hospital, Carol's father, because the reason

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they moved to this little town was he was a pastor. And he was a pastor of a small church

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there. And he made hospital calls and stopped in the room my dad was in, invited him to

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church. So we started going. Mom and dad, or dad came home from the hospital and said,

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we're going to start visiting this church. And I said, what? My dad was very strict so

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we had to do what he said. And we started visiting this church and that was the first

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I heard the gospel then where her father would open the Bible and he would take a passage

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of scripture and explain it. And then he would show how Jesus was the major part of that

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explanation and he wanted to be part of my life. And he would give that invitation at

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the end if anybody who was interested in finding out more about Jesus to come down front. And

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I was very interested but I'm not going down front because they're going to take you in

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the back room and I don't know what they do with you. So a few weeks later her mother

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and father came over to our house and they came in, sat around our kitchen table and

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I stood there as a 17 year old listening while her father had a coffee cup in one hand, had

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his Bible in the other hand and he explained the gospel to my parents. And then he got

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to the end of it and he looked at my railroad, tough, very strict father and he asked him

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if he was willing to get on his knees around that table and to confess his sin and ask

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Christ into his heart. And I thought my dad's going to hit this guy but he didn't. He said

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yes he wanted to do that. And my mother said yes and I just spoke up and said can I do

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that too? And the three of us began our spiritual journey right then. And Judy, it is. And mom

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and dad got home and told me Gene Kent had just become a Christian and that increased

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the dating pool to three because we were only allowed to date Christians. And so little

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did I know while I was at home doing the mundane job of babysitting my mother and dad were

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out winning my future husband to Jesus Christ.

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Oh, how awesome.

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So we got married right after we got out of college and five years later we gave birth,

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I gave birth, I did the hard labor to Jason Paul Kent and he was a great young man, loved

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Jesus, went to the Naval Academy, made his parents proud and he met and married a previously

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married woman who had two little girls. And there were multiple allegations of abuse involving

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the biological father and Jason became very anxious and in retrospect we saw him unraveling

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mentally, emotionally and spiritually as his fears for his girls increased. And we got

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a middle of the night phone call one year after they were married telling us her son

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had been arrested for the murder of his wife's first husband and he was in the jail in Orlando.

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And we went through two and a half years and seven postponements of the trial before our

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son was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility

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of parole.

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What a hard, hard thing, hard to live through.

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It is still a hard thing.

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I know.

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It is still a hard thing. We're living it. But we are here to say that in the middle

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of the deepest sorrow parents can go through with whatever their situation is with their

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own child. God is still in control and he has a plan beyond what we can see at the moment

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and even today.

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Even today, yes. Wow. That's such a hard place to be and many of our listeners are

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in hard places and they might not be that but they will be very challenging to them

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and fearful and you're out of control. You don't know what to do and that's what we're

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hoping to do is provide some pathways and some help. We're going to be starting after

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this, the one that will come after this will be on the subject of time. And the reason

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that we talk about time and I know you've even asked this question is that is one of

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the most common questions people who love a prodigal will ask, how long Lord? When will

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this end? How long does this go on? And so we're going to be looking at some things

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that help us have God's perspective on time and deal with time. And as we have talked,

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you've told me some things you've had to learn in the area of time. And so maybe you

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could kind of begin with that.

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Well Judy, one of the things that happened after Jason's conviction in Sentencing is

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that I wrote a book called When I Lay My Isaac Down on giving up what you love most and in

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our case our child to the God who loved our child even more than we did. And then 10 years

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went by and the publisher said I think this book needs another chapter. And Judy, you

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just hit it right on the head, that nail on the head because that chapter is on perseverance.

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And when you think about time, you think oh Lord, won't you give me the answer to my prayer

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now? I have begged, I have pleaded for something to change, something to budge. And so many

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parents deal with that and then a child who's caught in addiction winds up back in addiction

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and a child…

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So often.

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Yes, too often. And you say Lord, why aren't you answering my prayer? And so one of the

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things we are learning is that we're not home yet and sometimes we don't get the answers

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to our prayers in our timing or in this lifetime. But that does not mean that there can't be

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purpose and meaning and hope and faith and an ability to help others along the way who

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have also known what it's like to wait on a prodigal. And so I'm here to say that time

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doesn't have to be our enemy. Time can be our friend because it draws us closer to the

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Lord and it helps us to see with an eternal focus instead of just what's in front of

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us which is the next huge obstacle and disappointment.

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Do you have something to add to that as the dad in this situation? I know how hard this

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is. Not yours. It's maybe harder than most of them, but it's a hard thing, the waiting

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and not knowing.

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Judy, that is so true. I know when this first happened, you know, and we had to wait two

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and a half years before we even had a trial. And while we were doing that waiting, we kept

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wondering why do we have to wait so long? We understand now that there's reasons to

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wait and all of the details have to come out before a trial can take place. And then when

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the results of the trial and the sentencing took place and he was found guilty, you know,

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I remember I do lots of walking. And so I would be out walking and I would look up towards

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the heavens and I would often walk in the evening and see all of those stars up there

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and ask God why did he get the sentence of life in prison without parole? You know, and

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I don't even have a handle on what that means as far as intellectually I know it just means

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okay he's never going to come out of prison until he dies. And as a father, that's not

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what I would like to see. So I know that he's got to find something meaningful in life because

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that's what I have to do too. That's what all of us have to do as we deal with whatever

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time we have is we have to find something meaningful. And the more we can do that, then

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we see God using whatever it is that that we find our hands to do. So we have lots of

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assignments for our son or he gives us assignments too but he finds a lot of things to do especially

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for other men there which helps him see that his time is not wasted. That helps. Yes. That

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you're not just living here with nothing. Yes. And so maybe we'll get a little more

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on that in a little bit. But you talked to me about making hope-filled choices and that

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was part of your survival through this was learning to make the choices that gave hope.

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So one of them you mentioned was choosing life over emotional death. What does that

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mean? Judy, in the beginning when all of this happened the word got out and people started

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sending us cards and they came from all over the country because we've ministered in many

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places and many of them are sympathy cards. The kind you get when somebody passes away.

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Yes. And let's be honest they don't have a Hallmark greeting card line for you to send

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to parents whose children have committed murder. So they were doing the best they could with

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the lyrics they found. And I remember one day going through those cards and I tossed

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them in the air and I said my son is not dead he is alive. And then it hit me once again

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somebody else's son was dead. There was a father. There was a stepmother. There was

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a sister. They were planning a funeral while we were planning a trial for first degree

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murder. So immediately we began praying for the family of the deceased knowing they were

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in agony of soul. And our son would be the first to say that what he did was against

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the laws of God in man and he had begun to make an idol out of his own ability to save

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his girls from what he perceived was a danger. And he may not have known all of the facts

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but that's what he believed. And so we we just realized that we could live in this state

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of of sadness all the time and choosing to curl up in the embryo position and choose

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not to go out in public or we could move in a different direction called life. And one

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of my friends started sending me shoebox greeting cards instead of sympathy cards. They would

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say things like brain cells come and brain cells go but fat cells live forever or I'm

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a perfect ten I just keep it covered with fat so it won't get scratched. And I found

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myself laughing out loud and it surprised me because I really didn't know if I could

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ever laugh again. And it was a reminder to choose life. Is there any splash of joy in

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this day that I can choose in the middle of this great sorrow? And then God brought scripture

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to mind like John 10 10 I am come that they might have life and that they might have it

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more abundantly. So we started to be intentional after a while we had to allow ourselves a

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lot of time to grieve but we became intentional about saying what are we going to do today

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that will be life giving instead of energy draining. That's beautiful and helpful. What

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specifically can you give an example of you chose to do this to get life coming from this

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instead of. Well in my case I started to go out in public again because I was hiding.

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I pulled the shades. I would peek to see who was at the door before I would let anybody

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in because so many times when you have a prodigal you have false shame and false guilt about

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what your child has done and I was trying to protect myself. So a huge step forward

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to me was to step out in public and face other people knowing they knew what my son had done

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and Jean how about you. I know one of one of the first things that I did was one of

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the guys that I knew at church was a Christian counselor and I was dealing with guilt you

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know which is false guilt a man dealing with shame as Carol said. But anyway I called up

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this guy his name is Dan and I just said hey I need to talk to you about something and

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so we ended up having breakfast together and for about the next 15 years we had breakfast

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one morning a week for about the next 15 years and just talked about life and so it was a

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mutually good thing that we did together. So I ended up just helping put my life in

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perspective because all of us you know as we deal with prodigal children as we deal

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with whatever the situation we have is trying to put that in perspective and we often find

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once we when we do hear other people's stories we find out boy my story is not that bad compared

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to some other yes and I wouldn't trade places with some people that we've talked. Yes I've

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been there as well. Well you mentioned several times shame and one of the things you told

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me was that you had to learn to choose vulnerability which is means shame or fear or just hiding

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from people who are going to ask you or assume things. So how did you learn how were you

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able to be vulnerable with people? Well Judy I had taught a Bible study fellowship class

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and there were about 350 women in that study every week. They knew me well and I trained

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a group of leaders who were precious friends to me and I decided that I either had to hide

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or I had to tell my story. There was no middle ground there. We had to be the real deal with

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the people we knew and Jean and I discussed this together. What were we going to do? Were

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we going to quit ministry and ever being on a public platform again or were we going to

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say this is what has happened to us and this is what we've learned and this is what God

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has done for us and you can find hope and help too. So I just remember so vividly going

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into the beauty salon to get my hair colored and cut for the first time after the news

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came out in our paper and I'll never forget that feeling of walking in and looking around

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and noticing that everybody was quiet all of a sudden like oh no, oh no the mother of

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the murderer just walked in or I bet she's embarrassed to be seen in public today. I

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don't know if I should look up or down. This is really awkward. I thought I could read

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their minds. I'm glad you can laugh now. Oh wow the thoughts were just swirling and I

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was tempted to turn and run but in the back of that salon I saw Azam, my Iranian eyebrow

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plucker and precious Azam saw my need and felt my pain and she took me by the hands,

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took me to the back of the salon, she put her arms around me and she cried and she said

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oh Carol I'm so sorry about what's happened. I pray for you. I pray for your husband. I

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pray for your son and then she pointed at the wall that separated us from all of the

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other people and she said don't you worry about them. They will find someone else to

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talk about next week and you know what she was right. I've discovered most people have

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enough trouble of their own. They don't have time to think about our trouble all the time

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and after I began sharing one of those women who had been in my Bible study class came

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to me one day and she said Carol I used to think you were perfect but now I think we

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could be friends and she was really saying thank you for being the real deal. Thank you

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for not hiding what has happened. Thank you for not justifying it because it was wrong.

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It was horrific, horrendous sin on the part of our son and no matter what his reasons

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or what he believed about the father of the deceased he believed that it was wrong and

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so she said thank you for not hiding that and for telling us what happened. I needed

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to know that and so from then on we started being honest after the trial with our audiences

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and I had a woman come up to the book table afterwards and she was all hunched over. She

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said my husband's been incarcerated for the last 18 years and nobody knows he's getting

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out in one month and I looked at her and I said is he coming home to live with you? She

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said yes we're going to try to make a go of it and then she stood to her full height and

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with confidence she said today you've given me the courage to start telling my story.

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I'm going to quit hiding in false shame and false guilt and I'm going to tell people what's

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happened to us. I want to give people hope the way you have given me hope. Well behind

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her there were three young adult girls and they were holding hands and one of them spoke

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up and said Carol we're sisters. We sat out in the auditorium after you spoke and we decided

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if you can have the courage to tell your story we can tell ours. We were repeatedly abused

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by our daddy during our growing up years and we have never told the secret we are going

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to get Christian counseling what Jean found was important right in the beginning and then

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we're going to share with other victims of abuse so we can help them to find the courage

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to help others and to overcome what has happened to them. And that is such a gift when God

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takes the struggles and the pain and the hard hard things in our lives and turns them around

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to minister to other people to give them hope. Yes. Anything else you wanted to add? Judy

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you know we who believe in the scriptures of the Bible find a very unique thing in that

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God in as God tells various stories about famous people in the scriptures he points

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out all he points everything out about them not just the good things that they did but

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he also is not afraid of showing the bad choices that they make to just like David in the scriptures

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you know is ended up committing murder of all things and God is just notorious for for

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being transparent about mankind you know and then all of that is for a purpose so that

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we can all see that hey he forgives and that's what we want to communicate with people. That's

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beautiful and that's a main message of my book and my ministry is love mercy grace and

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that's what God gives and then the amazing thing is he then lets it flow through us to

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other people and when you have been able to step aside from the shame and instead embrace

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the fact that God would bring good out of it what a what a thing and your son has done

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the same. Yes he has. So that's amazing. You mentioned to me a number of other choices

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we need to make on a long painful journey. One would be forgiveness one is gratitude

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one is staying power or perseverance anything you could comment on those. Well I want to

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just say about gratitude that one weekend I was visiting my son and I said Jason how

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do you hold on to hope in the middle of a life sentence he said mom I have a gratitude

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list every time that cloud of despair and depression comes over me I get out a sheet

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of paper and I write down everything I have to be thankful for and he said I am thankful

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I have two parents who will be my advocates for as long as they live. I am thankful that

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on a compound that houses up to seventeen hundred men I can be a missionary on the inside

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he said that's a lot to be thankful for and we began trying to make lists ourselves of

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things we could be thankful for and one was that we had stretcher bearers people who were

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on an email update list who carried us when we could not carry ourselves and they made

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monetary gifts we were desperate. They you know yes we were people who were can do firstborn

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people Jean and I are both firstborns you know what that makes both of us bossy and

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so we had to learn how to be gracious receivers instead of always being the people who were

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on the giving end and that was a hard lesson. Yes that is a hard lesson and so as we began

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this journey we discovered that the more thankful our hearts were the more we were able to praise

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God in all things and and I think you know one of the other things I had to do was that

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whole thing of staying power and Jean and I actually co-wrote a book with David and

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Cindy Lambert this year on staying power and honey you want to just comment on how we've

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had to learn we're in this together. Yes you know often times we get mad over things. I

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know that. And I was just going to say men get perhaps more outwardly mad than women

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seems like women are better at keeping it hidden at times. We keep secrets. Okay thank

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you and but I remember when we when we first began our journey and the sentencing had been

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done and everything and we were just we were at home trying to figure out what to do with

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life and I just remember being in our closet one day and Carol is very organized her desk

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is very organized and our life is very organized but when we get to the closet the closet is

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not very organized and I just one day out of the clear blue it seemed like it was out

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of the clear blue I just blew up about and I wish you could organize this closet too

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Carol and give up clothing you haven't worn in the past year so it could be less crowded

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and my response was just to burst out in an angry tone and say I keep this house so neat

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how dare you criticize the way I keep this closet and then I found myself falling into

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his arms we both had tears and we looked at each other and one of us said you know this

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isn't the real issue is exactly that is not what this is a no and and so we realized that

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the small stuff escalates into big stuff because of the issue you're having with your prodigal

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and we had to learn to practice to get back to one of those other words you mentioned

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instant forgiveness and to become what we we've in our staying power book we talk about

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choosing to be unaffendable that that I look at you and I know you love me you could preach

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in the world today and his heart toward me is good I know he loves me we've we've had

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a lot of years together and so I am going to choose even though your tone hurt my feelings

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and really what seemed a bit aggressive I am going to choose to forgive you because

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I know your heart toward me is loving and kind that's beautiful yes you know what I

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should throw in here where we went to college was just a very strict school and one of the

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interesting things about it was you couldn't you it was almost that you couldn't have a

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date on the campus but you could they had one place that you could go for a date and

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that was the dating parlor and it and it looked like it looked like a big furniture store

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and they had couches and chairs in the dating parlor and you could go you could meet your

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date there and you would have to check in and then you were assigned a two chairs to

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sit in or a couch and then they had monitors who walked around to made sure that you weren't

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touching each other so we know this is very hard for the listeners to believe that we

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were at an actual an actual school like that but you know what happened by having to live

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like that for a few months which was for three years and is that it caused us to talk and

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so many couples don't talk enough right and talk about the important things in life so

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we ended up you know as 19 20 21 year olds we were just talking about what we wanted

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out of life and we quickly found that we wanted similar things that we wanted to have honesty

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between each other and we wanted to you know that I wanted her to know that if I do get

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upset about something I'm not mad at her I'm mad at the situation you know and all of those

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kinds of things we talked about a lot before marriage took place so we had our own premarital

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counseling and that in that kind of setting.

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Well and I should add that one of the things we talk about in the staying power power book

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is that it's good to make pre-decisions and those pre-decisions are I am going to be committed

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to you no matter what that I that is an absolute in my life I will be committed to you and

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so when we make that decision ahead of time it helps us when we hit the really tough stuff

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with our kids.

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Well and people who have prodigals their marriages are at risk yes and it drives a wedge or it

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creates so much tension in their individual lives that they take it out on each other

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so these are wonderful advice giving kinds of life giving things that you're sharing

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that can help them persevere through this hard journey.

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You know Judy sometimes we forget that we do have an enemy.

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Oh I don't forget that usually.

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And we don't talk about it very much that there is an enemy of our souls as believers

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and he wants to wreak havoc he wants to have all of our marriages torn apart he wants our

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lives torn apart he wants us to have have upheaval in our lives and to not have peace

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and to not have friendship and security and he doesn't want us to have communication with

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each other.

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Right.

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And I know just what ministry that Campus Crusade does is it wants to promote communication

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and ministry one to another and to share that that Jesus Christ makes that all possible.

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Thank you Lord that that is true.

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That is true.

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You say one of the important things to do is to have purposeful action steps.

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Yes.

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What would some of those be?

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Well when I think about purposeful action I think Jean and I together soon found ourselves

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standing in a long line waiting to get through the intake process sometimes up to two hours

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in blistering sun or torrential rain and we met a whole lot of families.

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That is to go into the prison.

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Yes to go to visit our son.

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And we met families and many of them had children who were waiting in that long line and we

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started to hear what the needs were and how some of them were feeding a family of four

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kids and the mom who was bringing the kids in and the dad who was incarcerated feeding

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six people out of the vending machines in the food window and that they needed funds.

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And then we saw how tattered the games were in the visitation area and we learned from

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our son that the men needed reading material and some of them were in Bible study programs

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and needed books for their small groups and the Lord put it on our hearts to do something.

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So for us that purposeful action involved launching what we call Speak Up for Hope which

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is a non-profit organization that benefits inmates and their families.

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And Jean you want to share some of the things we do and how you work with Jason with helping

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the guys on the inside.

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Especially during the pandemic times you know visitation for what six or eight almost eight

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months there was no visitation in Florida prisons and I know it's true in most prisons

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much yes much of the country and then they just started visitation again a couple of

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months ago but it's just very very strict.

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And we knew that that the families weren't able to get in and see their loved one but

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Jason knew knows lots of men there because our son has been in prison now for over 21

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years.

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So it's been a long time and he knows lots of men there we know lots of families and

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so he knows that there's men there who never get a visit either.

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And so he and I usually especially at Christmas time he would pick out 20 or 30 or 40 different

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guys who don't get visits and we would either buy books for that person and have them sent

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to him knowing that that's coming from Speak Up for Hope or we'll have money put in their

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inmate account and the inmate account is what the inmate can use to go to the canteen and

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buy some snacks.

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Now some people might think well you know snacks that's not a very biblical ministry

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but these men the kinds of foods that they get in the cafeteria are not the best kinds

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of foods either well they're not very tasty and men who don't have anybody who helps them

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financially at all don't get a snack you know and especially with the pandemic we all are

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pretty notorious for liking our snacks anymore.

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And so Jason would earmark and tell me about different men and then Speak Up for Hope would

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put money in their accounts but we would also put it in then I would send them a note and

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on the note I would tell them that you know so much money is going into your account and

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we would just like you to consider using half of the money on yourself and then identifying

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another guy that you would use the other half of the money for or whatever amount you want

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and we had some great response from guys who did that and one guy wrote me back and said

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you wrote me that and I thought to myself I'm spending all this money on myself I am

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not helping anybody else but he said a couple days later he still had money left because

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he hadn't spent it all and he said you know that probably would be a good idea so he did

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help some other guys too.

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What a wonderful thing.

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So go ahead.

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Well Judy what's been exciting is the fan went out in the dorm of 70 guys where Jason

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is and the Florida prisons are not air conditioned so it's over a hundred degrees during many

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weeks of the summer which is very difficult and Speak Up for Hope was able to buy a commercial

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grade fan and Jason said it calms their nerves it's like oh they can get in the breeze of

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that fan and it calms tempers down it's been amazing then it is so thrilling we get to

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send boxes of hope to wives and moms of inmates and one mom said this arrived on my birthday

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how did you know and they're filled with comfort items for women and we didn't know God knew.

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God knew.

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And so we give guys postage stamps I mean for them to be able to write a letter and

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we work with a company that supplies year old but brand new greeting cards at a great

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discount for prisons and the guys can send a real birthday card or a real Christmas card

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to their family members and we have found that when we give gifts of love like that

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it tenderizes their heart for the gospel.

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I was speaking in one prison not the one where Jason is one day and an inmate came up to

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me and he said Mrs. Kent I know your son I used to be in the prison where he is located

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and he shared Jesus with me and he said I was in a cult I didn't care at all about

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the gospel but he said Jason planted seeds in my heart that made me think and I've come

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to this prison and I have recently accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior will you

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thank your son for being the first person who introduced me to who Jesus was and tell

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him I now live for him.

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Did you have a few tears?

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More than a few.

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More than a few.

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More than a few I'm sure.

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Any kind of sum up where Jason is now what the situation is?

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He has been in over 21 years.

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This is an emotional time right now because just two days ago we got word from the governor's

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office about the clemency application that Jason had in working on clemency.

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Clemency is a political process and you have politicians who vote on clemency and we weren't

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asking to get out of prison tomorrow.

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He's got a life sentence which means he's never going to get out of prison unless he

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dies.

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So we were asking and he was asking for the powers that be for the clemency board to consider

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a commutation of sentence which means to get it changed from a life sentence to 30, 40

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years so that there's an end of sentence date.

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And about eight years ago we went through clemency and it was turned down then and we

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just went through the same process now and it finally got to the top of the pile and

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it's been looked at and they've just decided to not show clemency on any murder cases in

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this state right now.

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So we had to tell our son yesterday that the clemency process was over again and he's got

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to wait five years before he could reapply and he's now 46 years old but he's got a great

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attitude about it.

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He knows that God is using him where he is and he's probably taken about 1,000 guys through

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Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University too.

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So we'll be sitting there at visitation when visitation starts again and an inmate will

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bring his wife or his girlfriend over to our table and he will talk to us about, will you

401
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talk to my wife or my girlfriend why she shouldn't buy a new car?

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Not that you can't buy a new car but as Dave Ramsey would share anyway, financially these

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people don't have very much money as most inmate families don't.

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Judy, one other thing that was really precious to me, one of the things Jason said, as we

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were just going through the emotions of being turned down, having been through this, at

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one point he said, Mom, we just have to realize life is short.

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God knows if I can serve him better on the inside or the outside and he said, then life

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is over and like this, we're all in heaven and we are all walking in freedom and I knew

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he was going to be okay.

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Yeah, that's a wonderful thing to hear.

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And I'm sure that the three of you together have shed a lot of tears and yet God has given

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you peace and joy and a fruitful ministry as a result, things you would never have been

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able to do before.

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And that's a beautiful thing.

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00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:35,160
I wish we had lots more time but you have several books that you wanted to mention so

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tell us about those.

417
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:41,040
Well, the one we mentioned earlier is When I Lay My Isaac Down.

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It's just been released in paperback with a study guide in the back and that extra chapter

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on perseverance.

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00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:52,160
And then we mentioned Staying Power, which is the book on marriage, which has to do with

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00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:57,520
building a stronger marriage when life is tearing you apart and it deals a whole lot

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with parents of prodigals.

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00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,600
So I think it would really be of help to your audience.

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00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:07,560
And then I had real trouble reading the Bible because my mind was so upset about what I

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was going through and I soon realized I needed to concentrate on one verse at a time because

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that's all my mind could hold.

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00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:21,840
And then I would say, Lord, what are you speaking into my life as a result of this scripture?

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00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:26,960
And so I wrote out what I call listening prayers, like a paraphrase of what God was speaking

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00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,360
over my life as a result of that scripture.

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00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:36,600
So I went to the publishing house and I said, I'd love to do a year's worth of devotions

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00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:43,460
with a topic, just a five minute devotional, a key quotation that paraphrased prayer over

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00:41:43,460 --> 00:41:49,320
someone's life and the actual scripture on the page so it could give them hope.

433
00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:50,320
And they said yes.

434
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:54,080
And that book is called He Holds My Hand.

435
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:55,800
He Holds My Hand.

436
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:56,800
Yes.

437
00:41:56,800 --> 00:42:01,440
We just thank the Lord that he never leaves us, he's there with us and he's holding our

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hands.

439
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:03,440
Yes.

440
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,400
And in any other way we need holding up.

441
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:06,400
That's right.

442
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:07,400
Yes.

443
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,880
So you wanted to offer something about your book?

444
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:10,880
Yes.

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00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:18,000
If anyone would like a free digital download of a sampler from that book, He Holds My Hand,

446
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,200
you can get some of the devotions.

447
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:27,120
If you will just get out your cell phone and text the number 55444 and then in the place

448
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:30,200
where you would normally write someone a message, just write giveaway.

449
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:36,440
It can be an upper or lowercase, all one word, 55444, giveaway.

450
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,680
And then they will receive a portion.

451
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:39,680
Yes.

452
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:40,680
A sample.

453
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:42,680
They will get sample devotions from He Holds My Hand.

454
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:44,680
That they can download right there.

455
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:45,680
Right there.

456
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:47,280
Technology, Judy, it's just amazing.

457
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:51,840
It's way beyond me, but I have young people around me.

458
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,840
So thank you so much.

459
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:55,840
Thank you.

460
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:57,280
This has been absolutely wonderful.

461
00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:06,560
I know that our listeners will be so blessed and encouraged and given hope and some practical

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00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:07,560
things to do.

463
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:08,960
May I pray for you?

464
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:09,960
I would love that.

465
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:16,100
Father, I do thank you for Jane and Carol and Jason.

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00:43:16,100 --> 00:43:20,040
And I just ask again for your blessing on them.

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00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:26,600
Thank you for the way that you have taken the things that the evil one meant for evil.

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00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:32,640
The harm that he was seeking to do to Jason and also to Jason's parents.

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00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:37,880
And you've taken that and you've made it a good outcome.

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00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:43,160
It's still a hard thing, but it's an outcome of lives that are being touched, people who

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00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:47,320
are being rescued, needs that are being met.

472
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:49,640
And what a gift.

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00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:55,000
I love that you take those hard things in our lives and you turn them into gifts to

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us and to the other people that we encounter.

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00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:04,040
So bless them beyond what they even asked or imagined.

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00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,440
Thank you in Jesus' name.

477
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:08,440
Thank you.

478
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:09,440
God bless you.

479
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:10,440
Thank you so much, Judy.

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00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:11,440
My privilege.

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00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:18,720
Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast.

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00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:26,160
If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple podcasts

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00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:28,740
or wherever you listen.

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00:44:28,740 --> 00:44:35,060
Your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement of Jesus.

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Don't forget, take a look at the show notes and for more helpful information, resources,

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00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:45,600
and books, check out judydouglass.com.

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00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,500
That's Douglass with two S's.

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00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:55,640
You can find me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram at judydouglass417.

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Until next week.