Echoes of Amazing Grace

[Karen Burkhart Music]

Nicaragua 1997. Beads of sweat rolled down my back and legs. Outside
the lone window, on the rooftop, were armed guards manning their
posts.The stench from a couple dozen filthy prisoners saturated the
air of the tiny second floor room. The first reel of The Jesus Film
was over. Nervously, I cleared a path through the men until I reached
the front; I was the half-time show. There were no musical
instruments and no interpreter, so I sang the only song I hoped would
strike a chord: Amazing Grace. Trying desperately to maintain
composure, I did the only thing I knew to do—close my eyes and sing.
The room was eerily quiet until a perplexing sound broke the silence.
Too nervous to look, I waited until the last note then opened my eyes
to the most beautiful sight-- tear-soaked cheeks in every direction. I
had been hearing the sound of tears pooling on the dirt floor! The
Lord showed up and used me just like He had promised five years
earlier on the other side of the continent!

Winnipeg, Canada, 1992. I was there to sing. Nothing more, nothing
less. When my part was over I sat down, quietly sighed relief, and
got comfortable to enjoy the ministry of a woman named Nancy
Fenstermacher. I gathered quickly that Nancy had a special connection
with God and I was eager to observe how God would use her to reach the
women who had come. When Nancy turned her attention toward me, I
could not have been more surprised; I did not plan to be on the
receiving end of any personal exhortation that day. But the words
that Nancy spoke to me that day marked me for life. Here is an
excerpt:

I have set before you, daughter, an open a door that no man can shut…
You shall sing where there are prisons and dungeons ..A sound will
come out of you that will bring revelation of the Lord Jesus to men
who sit in darkness.

Because the meeting was recorded I was later able to transcribe the
message and I recognized that many of the words were direct quotes
from the Bible. Though I didn’t fully appreciate the scope of what was
being spoken, I accepted that this message was from God and that I was
to hold it close to my heart. For the next five years, I carried the
message in my Bible and would often meditate on it and ponder how the
prophetic elements might be fulfilled. At times I became discouraged,
asking God, “why isn’t this happening?” I even wondered if I had
somehow messed up His “A” plan. Nevertheless, I heeded the words of
Habbakuk 2:3.

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and
will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly
come and will not delay.


When the opportunity to go to Nicaragua on a missions trip presented
itself, I jumped at the chance though I made absolutely no connection
with the words on that yellow sheet of paper in my Bible. There were
no plans to sing and no plans to visit prisons. Once in Nicaragua,
most days we went door to door inviting people to come seeThe Jesus
Film. After the film we would mingle among the people, pray, and
share our faith.

On our second last night, at the ministry base, I led the team in
worship as I had done all week. As the team members were scattering
back to their rooms, the leader, Brian, approached me and asked me if
I would consider singing at a prison the next day. Reluctant
initially, I remembered a promise I made to the Lord that if He would
open doors, I would walk through them, so I agreed.

The next morning we prepared to go to the prison. I was a little
uneasy with the whole idea; I had never been to a prison, let alone a
Nicaraguan Prison! I didn’t know what to expect and I wondered what
impact a song could possibly have.

After arriving at the prison, the Warden took us on a tour.
Apologizing repeatedly for the deplorable conditions, he walked us
down the corridor where the prisoners were housed. We stopped at the
first cell and peeked inside the tiny barred window. I was shocked to
see several men cooped up with only a few rays of sunlight streaming
in the small window. As we continued, we passed what I assumed to be
an unnoccupied cell because of the total darkness. But when I looked
up, I saw the fragile clutches of a man’s hands on the bars. The
Warden told us twelve men shared that dark cell. In that instant, the
Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit and said, “This is a dungeon!”. Then,
the words of the prophecy given five years earlier came flooding
back.: A sound will come out of you that will bring revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ to men who sit in darkness! I started to weep, both
for the lost men and in response to God’s remarkable faithfulness to
use me.

A few years after my trip to Nicaragua I received news that made my
heart leap again. One of the twenty or so men who encountered Jesus
in that upper room was so transformed that he went on to begin a
Prison Ministry in Nicaragua after he was released!

I never could have imagined that the Lord could ever use me and a song
to reach prisoners in Nicaragua, but He did. And today, countless men
who sit in darkness in Nicaraguan prisons have echoes of Amazing Grace
ringing in their hearts.