December 5
The Weight of
Love and Loyalty
"Remember those in prison as if you were in prison with them. And remember those who are treated badly as if you yourselves were suffering."
Hebrews 13:3 (NIrV)
Gillian held on tightly to the phone receiver at the prison visitation booth, her fingers trembling slightly. On the other side of the glass, her husband, Mark, looked thinner, his once confident gaze now clouded with regret.
“I understand if you don’t want to do this anymore,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
She swallowed hard. Did she?
The shame of it all was suffocating. When Mark was arrested for armed robbery, their world shattered. She hadn’t even known he was capable of such a thing. The late-night police raid, the trial, the headlines—it played in her mind like a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from.
Everywhere she went, people whispered. At the grocery store, at church, even at work. Some pitied her. Others judged her. A few had the audacity to ask why she hadn’t left him yet.
And maybe they had a point.
She had spent so many nights staring into space, asking God what she was supposed to do. Staying meant enduring the shame, the loneliness, the endless questions. Leaving meant breaking the vows she had once spoken with certainty.
“Gillian?” Mark’s voice pulled her back. His eyes searched hers, filled with guilt and something else—hope.
She inhaled deeply. Remember those in prison as if you were there with them.
Mark had sinned. He had broken the law. But he wasn’t beyond redemption. If Jesus could sit with tax collectors and criminals, wasn’t she called to show the same grace?
She placed her hand against the glass. “You made a mistake, Mark. A terrible one. But you’re still my husband. I won’t abandon you.”
Tears welled in his eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”
“No,” she said softly. “But neither of us deserve God’s mercy, and yet He gives it anyway.”
For the first time in months, the weight in her chest lifted. Loving Mark wouldn’t be easy. The whispers wouldn’t stop. But she knew now—God’s love stretched even into prison walls, and she was called to love as He did.
Prayer:
Dear God,
It’s hard to stand by someone when the world says to walk away.
It’s hard to show grace when shame and fear press in.
But You remind me that no one is too far gone for Your love.
Help me to see others as You see them, to extend mercy even when it’s difficult, and to trust that You are working in every broken situation.
Give me strength, Lord, to love as You do.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
