After 17 years of life and ministry in Asia, I was now an empty nester living in Los Angeles. Both sets of parents needed support and care. For me, this meant one sabbatical year had now stretched into four.
My husband Jim was getting ready to leave for a month of ministry in Vietnam. Feeling a bug coming on, I sequestered myself away from him to not pass on any germs. (As an American Christian, I still feel that I need some such excuse to have a day of rest and extended time with the Lord.)
I’d never spent a whole day sitting in my room before, just reading, praying, worshiping, and listening. I sat on my bed facing the windows. My Bible was on my lap, journal at my side, a couple of candles lit, and Alexa awaiting my next request. Whenever a song came to mind, I'd expect it to be the prompting of the Holy Spirit and I'd sit and listen or sing along.
During that day my younger son’s birth mom, Crystal, kept coming to mind. I'd not seen her in quite a few years. So I reached out by text and invited her and her half-sister (the “glue person” of their family) to dinner.
The next Saturday they came. They were talking all over each other; there was so much to catch up on. Clearly, the Lord had arranged for this meeting: They were very stressed out and scared, and needed to share it. They needed someone to pray with them.
It turned out that Crystal had suffered a relapse with drugs and crime and her sentencing hearing was scheduled the following Tuesday. She had already spent time in prison and in a recovery program from drug abuse. A repeat offender, her crime this time was identity theft and resisting arrest. It could likely get her a 30 year sentence.
Crystal told me the whole story. After her first rehab and prison stay, she'd been doing well—holding a job and contributing to the family. But she started having disturbing flashbacks of the times she'd been raped or abused. She thought she was going crazy, which drew her back to self-medicating with drugs and the bad crowd that came with the life of a user. After her last arrest she’d gone into a recovery program.
She described how Jesus spoke to her one night while in the program. She sensed his presence in her room and heard him say comforting words to her about her value and his love for her. Both she and her roommate began to follow Jesus that night. They sought out fellowship and spiritual mentoring. As I talked to her during dinner I could tell she was a very changed young woman.
It was a lovely evening. I marveled that the Lord had prompted me to get in touch with Crystal. To enter into her story again for this night was a gift.
Over the weekend, as I reflected on my role in Crystal’s life, I had the strangest compulsions: Write to the judge by way of Crystal's attorney. Tell him our history, what I know, and what I see in her now. I also felt like I should go up to Sacramento for the hearing. By Wednesday I had finished the letter, and by Friday I had booked a flight, a hotel, and a rental car.
This was not my normal way of operating. My husband and I work with leaders. He mentors pastors. I am a mentor to artists. I had never done any kind of ministry that required me to spend time in a courtroom. But I felt like I needed to do this.
When I arrived at court, I met up with the family and met her lawyer. He profusely thanked me. "That was a great letter!" he kept saying.
We prayed before entering the courtroom on the 14th floor. When it was Crystal's turn, the judge called her forward. He recounted the seriousness of her crimes and let the prosecutor have some words. The judge had read every bit of a stack of reports from case workers and parole officers. "I've even read a compelling letter from a Mrs. Kimberly Creasman," he said.
In the end, he sentenced her to only 30 months instead of 30 years. "I don't have jurisdiction over where you do this time, but I am going to give my strongest recommendation to the Department of Corrections that you serve your time in a camp, and not a prison." We left the courtroom elated.
Later that night, back in Los Angeles, I was still wired from the adrenaline of the day. Our merciful God had been so, so good to Crystal, and I had gotten a front row seat to watch.
As I lay in that same bed where I first heard the Holy Spirit’s prompting to reach out to them, I flipped through some news articles of the day. Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. One headline caught my eye so I pulled it up on my phone. It was an article about the very judge and courtroom I had been in earlier that day!
I’m pretty sure God led me to this article in case I was tempted to think that this judge was just "soft on crime." This article made it very clear that he was one tough judge.
I knew that the Lord had moved in this situation. It wasn't only for his mercy to Crystal, but to teach me a very memorable lesson: the importance of taking extended time for stillness and listening prayer. What would have happened with Crystal if I had not spent that day sequestered on my bed? I want to always remember that more good can come from not doing anything! Well, not doing anything but spending time with God!
Every gospel movement begins with prayer—prayer that is focused, strategic, and operates comfortably in the supernatural. In 2019 Novo staff spent a collective 1,220 hours each week practicing this kind of prayer, including intercession, prayer-walking, healing, blessing, and listening prayer. Learn more about our ministry impact in 2019 by downloading our Annual Ministry Report.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kimberly Creasman has been with Novo since 1997. She spent 17 years in Asia using her background in theatre as a platform for spiritual mentoring with artists. Kimberly’s most fulfilling ministry has been consulting and teaching ministry leaders how to apply drama to Christian ministry and Christian education. In 2020, she is launching a cross-cultural writing project with emerging leaders/younger writers in other nations. Together, they will adapt her 20 page booklet Experience God: Nine Ways We Experience God and Grow Spiritually. Through nine culturally relevant testimonies, this booklet introduces the nine spiritual temperaments originally taught in Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas. Download links to the English or Vietnamese version, or contact kimberly.creasman@novo.org for further information.