Mosaic of Mercy

Step into Judy and Larry Mills’ kitchen in Oklahoma City. Platters of food line the countertop in anticipation; the kids are coming for a cookout. The refrigerator is plastered with their photographs—more than 60 of them. Only two of the kids on the refrigerator are the Mills’ by birth. The rest are children of the heart—Prison Fellowship Angel Tree^® children whom they and their church, Bethany First Church of the Nazarene, have committed to walk with through college.

 

Angel Tree is a Prison Fellowship program dedicated to serving the children of inmates. While the volunteer-driven program continues in its original mission of delivering Christmas gifts and the Gospel, it has expanded to include year-round mentorship.

 

The Mills’ church started with Angel Tree Christmas parties. But its efforts grew to include birthday cookies, summer camps, back-to-school shopping, and everyday love, like helping a teenager complete a job application.

 

Judy retired early to better minister to her Angel Tree kids, but she considers it no sacrifice. “I love these children,” she explains. “Sometimes they come over to my house and they see their pictures up there, right along with my kids, they are stunned! They can’t believe it.”

 

 

Snapshot of Joy: Michelle Ward

One of Judy’s favorite photographs shows Larry with grown-up Angel Tree kid Michelle Ward.

 

When her mother went to prison, 16-year-old Michelle remained as the sole caregiver to four siblings. The youngest was six weeks old. Rather than turn her siblings over to the state, Michelle struggled to hold the family together.

 

“It was really hard,” explains Michelle, who dropped out of high school and worked the midnight-to-eight shift at the Waffle House. “But when I met Judy, that changed.”

 

Judy invited Michelle and her siblings to their church’s Angel Tree Christmas party. After the first time, they kept coming.

 

“The first couple of years, Angel Tree presents were the only presents we got,” says Michelle. “Angel Tree gave [the younger children] something to look forward to. And when you’re a child going to visit a parent in prison, there’s not a whole lot to look forward to.”

 

Despite the gifts, Michelle had many barriers to overcome. According to another volunteer, “She was mad at God for quite a while. Showing her and her family love over an extended period of time, that’s what drew her in.” And that’s just what Judy and the other volunteers did—by sponsoring Christmas parties, Thanksgiving feasts, and summer Angel Tree camps. They even helped Michelle finish her GED and successfully complete nursing school.

 

Today, Michelle is an RN in charge of the oncology unit at a hospital. When she shows up at church on Sunday beside her own four children, she wears her scrubs.

 

“She’s one of our best success stories,” Judy beams.

 

 

Snapshot of Discovery: Corey Thomas

Judy is a little sentimental when it comes to the picture of Corey Thomas at his first Angel Tree party. The three-year-old peers shyly at the camera, arm twined around his mother’s leg.

 

Corey’s mom, Sheryl, asked for a volunteer to help her make the long trip to visit her husband in prison. So soon after the Angel Tree Christmas party, Judy picked up Sheryl, Corey, and his four-year-old sister, Raven.

 

About halfway into the five-hour trip, doubt hit Judy. She thought, God, what business did I have to bring two little children to a maximum-security prison? These children . . . are going to be miserable.

 

When they got to the prison, an officer patted Sheryl down, checked her shoes, and made the children take their shoes off also.

 

At last the barred gates opened. The frightened children clung to their mother. “You couldn’t have gotten a straw between them, they were . . . so scared,” remembers Judy.

 

As the officer, Sheryl, Corey, and Raven vanished from sight, Judy was left alone pacing and petitioning her Father in heaven.

 

Later, Judy heard some noise and looked up. Corey was coming around the corner, and this time he was not even holding his mother’s hand. He was bouncing.

 

With all the air in his small lungs he began to yell, “I’ve got a daddy! I’ve got a daddy! I’ve got a daddy!”

 

He ran over to Judy and took her hands while she struggled to restrain her tears. “Did you know I’ve got a daddy?” he asked proudly.

 

Judy got down on her knees and hugged him and said, “Oh, yes, Corey! You have a daddy, and he loves you very much.”

 

That day Corey discovered that he had a father who loved him. But in the eight years since then, through the ongoing work of Angel Tree, Corey has made an even greater discovery—that he also has a heavenly Daddy whose love surpasses any other.

 

 

Around the Kitchen Table

Tonight, just a few of Judy’s kids sit around her kitchen table, eating ice cream and brownies. Laughter and hope float around the table. When at last they go, Judy points out yet more snapshots of the children she loves.

 

There’s John, who’s turned his life around from addiction. There’s Sasha, who dreamed of becoming an attorney to help get her dad out of prison. She talks of them all until late in the night. Together, they tell a story of need intertwined with the compassion of volunteers. They compose a mosaic of mercy that only God could have pieced together.

 

More churches and volunteers are needed to deliver love to Angel Tree children like Michelle and Corey. To learn more, visit www.angeltree.org.