Spiritual Survival Guide
7: Surviving Spiritually Beyond Prison
your freedoms are severely restricted. On the outside, freedom will pres- ent an avalanche of temptations on every street corner. Right now you’re dealing with a difficult set of spiritual issues. On the outside you’ll be dealing with a whole new set of spiritual issues. Right now, you’re dealing with things at normal speed. On the outside, you’ll be dealing with things at “game speed.” By saying that, we’re not trying to scare or intimidate you, or anything like that. But like football coaches who prep their play- ers for what’s coming by showing them game film, we’d like to give you a spiritual heads-up on what you may be facing when you get out. Disorientation. Dan’s story did a good job of describing what it feels like in those first days and weeks after release. In a way, it’s easier to take your body out of the prison than to take the prison out of your mind. You’ll find that, whether you wanted to or not, you grooved in that “prisoner mentality” over the years. That means, in the early days, you’ll feel out-of- step with almost everyone—except, perhaps, other ex-convicts (and you may need to stay away from them for legal reasons or for your own good). You’ll be experiencing reverse culture shock. Like Dan, you’ll probably feel overwhelmed. You may want to go into a shell or go out and medi-
confidence, and courage to keep things together in prayer will be a major priority. The only problem with that is, just when you really need it, the whole spiritual routine that you’ve been developing for years behind bars will have been interrupted. Hitting the spiritual reset button. You can be sure that whatever spiritual growth or depth you manage to develop in prison will be a tremendous asset on the outside. However, you can probably expect that the patterns or habits or schedules that worked well inside will be hard to maintain once you leave prison. The specific times that you set aside for Bible read- ing, thoughtful reflection, Bible study groups, 12-step groups, and church services will all be gone. Your spiritual buddies will be gone. And all at the same time. You’ll need to hit reset. Some guys manage to hit reset and restart their spiritual life on the outside without too much trouble. Other guys seem to have a big disconnect between ending their spiritual life on the inside and starting it fresh on the outside. We asked some ex-inmates on the west side of Chicago about what happened to their relationship with God, their prayer life and their Bible reading in their first six months after prison. They paint a very mixed picture.
cate yourself. Resist the urge. Remember, this experience of being disoriented is normal, and it passes. There’s very little you’ll be able to do to hurry up the
It truly felt like I’d lost whatever mind I had left! —Dan
My relationship with God has grown tremendously, and is still growing.
I prayed more and got closer to God, although I haven’t been reading the Bible regularly.
process. It’s sort of the equivalent to going outside into bright sunlight after having been in a dark room. Only, instead of just your eyes having to adjust, your thoughts, emotions, and habitual behaviors will need time to adjust to the new environment. The more you realize that this is part of a natural process of readjustment to being outside, the more you can keep from freaking out and losing it in the early weeks. You’ll find that you really need to rely on God during this time. Finding reassurance,
They all got better.
It was not as strong as it was in jail.
I am in God’s hands and have been praying every day since 2000.
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