Thursday morning I had a chance to go to LCIW (Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women). I always enjoy listening to the stories of these ladies. To be honest with you, when I leave there it’s a real emotional roller coaster for me. It hurts! It hurts my brain to think about how they got here, but I have to think about it, because it’s too heavy for my heart not to think about it.
One of things that has struck me about working with offenders is their vernacular. It’s like they have their own prison language. They are quick to tell you that they, “caught a charge”, or “I’m on papers for another 10 months”. One lady at LCIW today told me, “how long and how many times she had “been down”. That’s inmate talk for the number times and length of stay someone spends inside a correctional facility. When I heard those words, “I’ve been down”, I realized that was the posture of her mind set and the condition of her heart. Unfortunately, unless there is some type of intervention, she will bring that mind set with her into society once she is released. 
Our words reveal a lot of things about us and our belief system. If we speak something long enough, we’ll begin to believe it. Many of these offenders that I work with are setting themselves up for failure, even before they are released. They fail not because of a lack of opportunities or resources, but because of the way they feel and think about themselves.
I wonder how many of us are guilty of the same thing? How many times have we spoken death over our relationships, finances, children, or circumstances? “I can’t do this or I can’t do that. There’s no hope for me.” When we speak these words over our own lives, and the lives of our family members, or our circumstances, we too have set ourselves up for failure. Words are powerful. They can bring blessing or cursing, life or death. There is power in the tongue! Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose. Proverbs 18:21
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