Once In A Lifetime

Chapter 11: Empowered

"God has a better plan for me than I have for myself."

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There was an overwhelming silence from the audience as Denis continued his testimony.

I walked out from the darkness of detention cell towards the light a changed man. As the beaming sunrise rose from the horizon that morning, I felt a new life was beginning within me. Although I was still a prisoner, my spirit was no longer captive and I could even soar as high as my hope could take me into the realms that only God knows the limit.

Then  the day came when Mr. & Mrs. Peterson visited the prison house to reach out to people like me, offer prayers and leave us with comforting messages of hope. I realized that I am loved beyond measure,  no matter how dim my past and how scarlet my sins were.

Henceforth, I sensed God everywhere. I could see Him in the smiles of my inmates, in an empty sky when the stars don't appear or in a dangling light at night. I could feel Him through the sunrise in the horizon or when it sets at dusk. I could hear His voice in the air, in the stillness of the night or even in the thundering tempest. Everywhere my eyes turned to, I see God, I see hope for a better day coming.

Every morning,  when I woke up, my desire to live, not only for this life, was becoming so strong, that I could not resist the call of the small voice within me. The longing for a physical freedom was so intense that I could tire God for my incessant prayers every single hour of the day.

Yes, God was with me when I was lost and empty. I wasted my life for the past years, but He directed me to the unknown path that I may know and value Him. He led me into the prison house, that I may seek Him in the dark, and appreciate the light. Every time my love cup run dry, He was there ready to refill my empty soul. And when I feel I was sinking, His hands were ready to lift me up  and place me in a solid rock. I never see these great love before because the only love I know was earthbound.

Then, I started reading the Bible by myself. Reading the Bible was so addictive that I was literally high on God. One month of constant Bible study, brought me into the state of eternity, followed by baptism that give me courage to shout His name in the prison house amidst criticisms, hatred and rejection. I was too engrossed to do His will, until I craved no more for the freedom I've been praying for, fulfilled for where I am. The horribleness of the prison house became a splendid field to harvest souls for the Master.

So, I used every opportunity to seek out for every one in the prison, not by what I could, but by His grace and power.  It was not an easy path when prisoners were habitually inclined to a lifestyle of wrongdoings, deceived, bitter and  lost. Few were receptive, but majority were mean, hard and insulting.

One time, a very notorious prisoner  challenge my faith. He was an atheist, who had attempted to escape many times but would end up incarcerated bruised, wounded and on the point of death. He would always bombard me with disparaging remarks and blasphemy. "If your God is indeed no respecter of person,  He would keep me company in the dark, just like you claimed, He did to you," he said to me one day.

That night, I prayed for him. I did not ask for any miracle but simply to let him feel the love God has for everyone.

On the fifth day of his incarceration, I was brought in the clinic for severe vomiting for unknown reason. As I was lying in the clinic ,  the guards came rushing in, carrying the atheist who was found dead when they noticed his cell was  so silent for he would usually shout and curse everyone. He was pronounced dead by the doctor. When the doctor was gone,  I was impressed to reach out for him, lay my hand on his chest and silently offer a prayer . After my  "amen" he was miraculously revived to life. At the same time, my stomach ache was gone, and vomiting stopped. The nurse attending  us was in a state of shock. She had just witness a simultaneous rare incident - immediate healing and dead came to life.

Was it coincidental  that I was brought in the clinic the same day he died?  No. It was providential. God's timing is always perfect. That day when he was revived,  I knew God  was in the process of transforming him, as He did to me.

Months later, we became partners in sharing God's love to our fellow prisoners. The results were tremendous. Day by day, prisoners were accepting the Savior in a very remarkable way. Although he was still a prisoner until this moment, but his life is a living testimony of God's power to change life. With all conviction, in God's perfect time, he too will be released and set free.

After some years of fruitful ministry, the desire to be free and live with my daughter was ignited. I asked God to intervene and prove my innocence. I don't know how it will gonna happen but I claimed I am free at last.

Then, came a momentous  event that only God could shape. My finite wisdom was too limited to really fathom His ways. Until this moment, I cannot explain why things are happening the way it was.

We were informed that  the Bureau of  Prison would conduct a simultaneous prisoners audit nationwide. The state audit lasted for almost a year up to the last stage when reports where generated for the perusal of the newly elected president then in this country, whose plan was to intensify prison system in the country, revising the rules on parole, pardon and amnesty grants, and demanding immediate implementation.

I received no parole, no pardon either,  but the name Denis Romano was delisted among the roll.

A surge of disbelief filled the room.
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