Hello, I pray that your heart is ready to receive from the Lord.  I pray for those who are experiencing incarceration to repent and ask the Lord into their hearts and lives.  You know, He loves you and died for you!
I want to share with you for a moment.  My name is Jan and I worked at the Lima Correction Institute in Ohio for many years.  It was a good job and I met good people who had made bad choices in their lives.  Remember, for every choice you make, there is a consequence, be it good or bad.
As a Correction officer, and a Christian, I met with other officers every Friday morning before work for a time of Bible study and prayer.  We prayed for those incarcerated, those working and for the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with someone each day.  One week, the leader of our group was not going to be able to be there, so he asked me if I would lead it for that week.  Before the meeting, I was praying and asked the Lord to guide me, I found myself drawn to Matthew 13:31-32.
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a   grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field:  Which indeed is the    least of all seeds:  but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”
This scripture is called, “The Parable of the Mustard Seed.”  I went to the store and bought some mustard seeds and put them into little baggies to share with everyone in our Bible study group.  We had a good Bible study together that day.  Everyone shared with the others a story of faith and how the Lord had worked in their life.
As the day went on, I was in my dorm working, doing what needed to be done.  I went out into the hallway and while there, felt led by the Holy Spirit to call one of the people who was an inmate to me.  I told him that I had something to share with him.  Out of my pocket I pulled one of the little bags of mustard seeds.  I explained to him what it was.  The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds.  Sometimes, that is exactly how our faith is – it is so tiny, just barely there.  Yet, the Lord honors it and He is able to grow our faith in Him as we have a heart that hungers and thirsts after Him.  And from that faith, He is able to work and do great things for His honor and glory.  I told him that just as one of these tiny mustard seeds can grow into a big plant, so can our little seed of faith grow.  Not in our own strength but in the strength that the Lord Jesus Christ gives.  I told him that if he prays, asking the Lord to forgive him of his sins, admitting that Jesus Christ is Lord and surrendering his thoughts and actions - his life to Christ, then his little seed of faith will grow into a huge strong tree of faith!  The young man took the little baggie of seeds and walked away.
It was not until two or three months had passed, that this same man came up to me and wanted to talk.  He told me that on the day that I shared the baggie of seeds with him, he was experiencing one of the most difficult, dark days of his time in that institution.  He told me that I would never understand what our discussion meant to him and how it full changed his life.  He wanted to thank me for taking the time and obeying the voice of the Lord to talk with him.  He then opened his Bible, that he was holding, directly to Matthew 13:31-32 and there, taped beside those verses was that little baggie with the mustard seed that I had shared with him.  I told him that Jesus would stick closer to him than a friend no matter where he went.
I praise God for this moment and others like it!  I thank Jesus that He is faithful and true and that He can change a life if one just hungers and thirsts after Him.  God is so good.  Lean on Him and trust Him 100%.   He is faithful!

Written by: Horatius Bonar