I’m home after my Saturday visit to jail, reading inmate prayer requests when I see, “Please pray for my little girl. I know she’s worried that her mama hasn’t called.” There is no name beside the words, and I speculate as to which woman gave the request. I try to reproduce in my mind each face in the prayer circle, for so many faces reflected fear and regret and so easily showed tears.

I then imagine the face of the little girl who wonders why her mama hasn’t called. Did she see the police take Mama away in handcuffs, or did she wake after a nap to find that her mother was gone? Who is with this child now and is she safe?

My imagination drifts into wondering what it would be like if the women were allowed to have their children with them in our prayer circle. I know that if all the little boys and girls, the babies, the toddlers, and teenagers were brought in to stand with their mothers, hand to hand around that jail pod, that big room might not be large enough to contain them. I look back at the prayer sheet and read the remaining requests. Woven throughout the page are these words: “I’m worried about my children. Pray they will be safe… They tell me my son is acting up and running wild, please pray for him…. I’m so worried about my baby…”

I wonder what will happen to all the little people when they grow up to be big people in this out-of-control world.

Recently, I heard a discussion regarding our out-of-control world and its effect on today’s children. One voice suggested that we must give more attention to mental health and that good mental health begins in the home–ideally a home where there is a mother and father who love and train and discipline their children. However, it seems that there are very few ideal families today. So what hope could there possibly be for the incarcerated mother and her child?

As we minister to women in jail, we tell them that, with Jesus, there is hope, and we cite true stories of people who survived chaotic circumstances and raised children who contribute well to society. My favorite story is about a lady named Sonya. She was illiterate, had no earning skills, and lived in a very dangerous part of town. When her husband left her with two little boys to raise, she was overwhelmed with hopelessness and suffered a mental breakdown. A strange woman visited her in the hospital; the woman brought a Bible and began teaching Sonya how to read. Through the pages of the Bible, Sonya received faith in the God who loves and cares and has a plan for every family. She began talking to Jesus daily about her problems, and HE gave her a specific plan for raising her sons. Eventually, Curtis Carson became an engineer who designed aircraft brakes for a major engineering firm. Benjamin Carson went to medical school and became a world-famous neurosurgeon.

Jails and prisons are filled with people who have had all kinds of defeat and failure. Failure is often passed down through the family. Abused children often become abusive parents. Children of divorced parents are more likely to have a failed marriage. Alcoholism, drug addiction, low self-esteem, depression, anger, can all be passed down through the family from one generation to another.

Nevertheless, one incarcerated woman, who comes to know Jesus and determines to trust Him and take responsibility for her own behavior, can break the cycle of defeat in her own family. That one woman can set a new standard of faith that will affect generations to come.

Virginia Dawkins is the author of Stepping Stones: Steps from Shackles to Freedom, available at Amazon.