BROOKVILLE, Fla.—Maria Goodsell had been a Stonecroft woman since 1979, but two and a half years ago God opened her eyes to a ministry she was born to conduct.
“We were in a study on Mark, and we saw Jesus like we’ve never seen Him before,” Maria said. “That Servant, that loving Servant and His compassion for people. That changed all of our lives that day and we became more aware of reaching out to those who are hard to reach or get to.”
Soon Maria and her volunteers stepped behind the iron bars of Hernando County (Fla.) Correctional Institution for women. This faith-based incarceration facility offers character-building classes, religious and secular, to enhance the lives of inmates. And thanks to Maria’s persistence, the institution allowed Stonecroft to hold classes every Friday evening.
For Maria, the clanging of the cell doors and the confinement brought back memories of her childhood. Maria and her family, who were of German descent, were imprisoned in a Yugoslavian concentration camp after World War II. The Yugoslav Partisans, an anti-Nazi resistance group, attempted to rid the country of Germans. Maria eventually escaped, but the camp claimed the lives of her grandparents. Maria has retold the story to Stonecroft audiences through the years.
“I survived,” she said. “God had a plan for my life, to share the news of Jesus Christ. And God is still using that story to bring others to Christ.”
The Stonecroft Bible Studies clearly generate excitement at the prison. With class sizes limited to twelve, inmates rush to get on the sign-up sheet. And in the two and a half years since the program began, Maria and her group have completed nearly all of Stonecroft’s Bible Studies. The program’s popularity doesn’t surprise Maria.
“They are looking for answers,” she said. “They have so many mandatory things they have to take, but this is an elective. They are doing this because they love it. They love Stonecroft [Bible Studies], the way they are written. They are all participating.
“One of my guides recently said, `They are just like one of us. While we’re in their midst, you expect them to be different and act different, but they don’t. They are just like one of us.”
The beauty of the program lies in the results. One inmate incarcerated 17 years has written a book about her prison experiences and cites Stonecroft as one of the reasons for her survival. It will be published after her release, approximately two years from now. And other blessings pour in.
“One of our girls recently wrote comments on our study that read, `If we did not have the new birth in Jesus, we could not experience the depths of God’s love or the light in our lives.’”
Thanks to God and His infinite mercy, Maria and her cast of Stonecroft volunteers reach the lives of a few Hernando County inmates and make their days a bit brighter.