By Pam Zylstra
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you… making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:3-6). I recently shared this verse with my students in a lesson from our How People Change (Book by Timothy S. Lane/Paul D. Tripp) class at Rockville Women’s Penitentiary. Through the ministry of Divine Hope Seminary, I am pleased to have the opportunity to share with these 15 women how God’s Word challenges and equips us to live out the gospel in our everyday lives. As professed believers, the students and I are in partnership with the Holy Spirit is at work in all our hearts to continue the transformative work of sanctification that Christ began in our salvation. “This course helps people to understand the underlying motivations for their actions and gives them specific, practical help in changing long-standing patterns of behavior, so they grow in love for God and others” (How People Change). It has been my pleasure to interact with these women at this deep, spiritual level to see them apply biblical principles to the reality of life.
In my second class of 15 women, we are discussing, Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free (Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth). The goal of this book is to expose lies we may have listened to, believed, or acted upon and confront us with the Truth of God’s Word. “This Truth is the means to freedom–not just survival, not escape—but true, glorious freedom, in the midst of this fallen, corrupt, hurting world” (page 10). It has been beautiful to see these women growing in “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him [Christ], having the eyes of their hearts enlightened to know the hope which only he can give in this world and for the next (Ephesians 1:17-18). Together we are exploring God’s truth and learning what it looks like to walk in that truth. Both these classes have required some intense personal discipline and introspection; however, we thank God for the fruit we are enjoying because of it.