From Prison to Freedom and Beyond

Awhile back I spoke with a woman named Holly Dziedzickie. Holly was raised in a Christian home and attended church with her parents from an early age, but in her teens she rebelled against God. She became involved in a lifestyle of promiscuity, alcohol and drugs, including selling methamphetamine. She was angry at God that he considered the things she wanted to do sinful. For years she was in and out of jail. The drugs made her paranoid and violent, and she was ultimately sent to a high-security facility.

There, Holly met an inmate she had known previously. This time, however, her friend seemed different. “You’ve changed,” Holly said. “You’re shiny.” Her friend told her that she had been saved, led to Jesus by a little old lady from Yucca Valley who used to come to the prison and pray over the girls. Holly began reading the Bible, but it didn’t speak to her. Her friend said, “You need to ask God to open your eyes before you read that,” and she did. She opened her Bible again, her eyes landing on Romans chapter five.

This was Holly’s turning point. God ripped off the blinders, and she understood for the first time that Satan had conned her. She was not doing what she wanted; she was instead a slave to sin. Romans 5:8 stood out: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (ESV). She asked God to save her.

Holly served a reduced sentence and emerged from prison a different person. She went to Bible school, then traveled to Cambodia where she founded the Girls’ House of Refuge in Phnom Penh. For over ten years now, God has brought hundreds of young, impoverished girls to this haven – girls from the slums who have been abused, exploited, traumatized and thrown away by society.

Who knew that a little lady from Yucca Valley would impact so many? One person, not content to sit in comfortable complacency, steps into the Holy Spirit’s mighty flow. It spreads, prisoner to prisoner, friend to friend, and Holly pays forward her glorious redemption to bring Christ’s love and hope to the forgotten women of Phnom Penh.

Whatever God is calling you to right now, take a step toward it! His plans are far beyond ours and may touch the lives of people we could never imagine right now.