............Laura Wells (Laura was a Church
& Community Worker, and for 11 years was Coordinator of
"The Church in Prison in the Tennessee Conference."
Before that time she served in jail ministry for five years in
Missouri. This article was adapted from an article that appeared
in the Tennessee Conference edition of The United Methodist
Reporter, April 12, 1982.)
"I'm Going to Make It!"
Marissa walked into the "free world" after eighteen months behind the walls of a state prison, carrying a small bag of belongings and a big smile. The first two persons to greet her were United Methodist Women. Representatives from several United Methodist churches provided her basic needs during those first crucial days.
Marissa enrolled in Nashville Technical Institute and found a job, where she received encouragement and praise for her work. A year later emergency surgery, followed by a stroke, left her partially paralyzed. Six months of therapy resulted in her learning to walk again--with the help of a cane. She learned to write and to talk more distinctly. She has declared from the beginning, "I'm going to make it! I know I will."
To become more independent and take responsibility for her two children, Marissa reentered the technical school to prepare for work as an accountant. We taxpayers were investing $3,960 per year in government subsidies for Marissa's future. In prison the cost would have been $10,000, and she would have had little opportunity to prepare herself for becoming a productive citizen.
One Sunday morning Marissa walked slowly with her cane to the front of the sanctuary of Edgehill United Methodist Church to confess her faith and make her vows to the church. "I feel good. You have accepted me. You are my family; so I have someone to turn to, to be with. I don't feel alone with my problems." It was not easy for Marissa to learn to trust people, but her ability to trust her life and gifts to the church and community continued to grow. Marissa maintains stoutly that she is "going to make it!" Sometimes she says it with frustration and through tears, but always she says it with determination and faith -- faith in God, her church community, and herself.