Lifetime Sentence

I’ve made poor choices 

and paid dearly for my crime

My choices affected many

if I could, I’d turn back time

Society sees me as a loser 

and a form of pure scum

I see it in the stares

the judgment, and the shuns

My remorse is great 

God Almighty knows this is true

If only people could see 

what God sees in me and you

I’m labeled, and I’m an outcast 

for the way I used to live

I’m not who I used to be

but people refuse to forgive

I’ve paid my debt to society

I’ve done the time for my crime

but so many people still hold this debt

with a lifetime sentence over my head

I’m excluded from employment

Convicted felons need not apply

My past is my past

but it’s how I’m defined

Once a loser, always a loser

These are the things that people say

I hear that I have nothing to offer

and that I’m not welcome in their space

People can’t see that my heart’s been changed

that I’ve repented and confessed my shame

So many judge my past and hold a bitter grudge

I’ve been released, but my time’s really just begun

There are limitations everywhere I turn

This lifetime sentence is beyond absurd

Hasn’t justice been met 

in the sentence I’ve already served?

Jesus said that we are to forgive 

as He’s forgiven us

and the way that we judge others 

is the way that we’ll be judged

So if you look at someone 

like they’re a form of pure scum

and are holding judgement 

for what they have done

If you’re harboring bitterness 

until they take their final breath

please think about the things 

that Almighty God has said 

When we repent of our sins and confess to the Lord

our Savior says that they’re remembered no more

Thank You, Lord Jesus, Almighty Redeemer and King 

for washing my stains and making me clean

“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” 

Acts 10:15

This is an excerpt from Echoes of His Heart
Featured Image by Free-Images

About the Author

Debbie always had a desire to write a book, but didn’t have a clue as to what the content could be. Children’s books and short stories piqued her interest most. She had dabbled with writing family-oriented poems, off and on over the years, but became overwhelmed with a hunger to write about God and His love in her late fifties. She started seeing God everywhere she looked whether it was in a deck of cards, movie titles, nursery rhymes, popular sayings, flower petals, or a baseball game. She finally realized that prophecy was being fulfilled when one of her sons told her that her poetry glorified God and was meant to be shared. The Lord’s words from an encounter in 2011 immediately returned to her. She had found her own way to speak about God just like He told her she would. Debbie is sharing her poetry in hopes that it will nourish and strengthen souls for the Kingdom of God. She refers to her poetic style as floetry, as it is the move of the Holy Spirit flowing from her heart to another. Her desire to flood the prisons with her book is due to God’s belief in her, and in her belief that no one can cast the first stone, but that everyone can help someone who is in desperate need of a Savior. Please visit Debbie’s Home Page for more information.

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