Prayer Investigator: Prayer for an Arrested Son with Carol Kent

When her son was arrested and convicted of first-degree murder, Carol Kent's world turned upside down. Join Carol as she shares her unbelievable story of relinquishing control and trusting God amid impossible circumstances. Carol explains how she cried out to Jesus for help and learned to pray in a deeper way through her family's darkest moments. Discover how Carol has found purpose and meaning even though her son remains imprisoned. You'll be inspired by her journey of aligning her will with God's will, despite ongoing hardships.

Reflection Question:

1. Have you ever had to relinquish control and trust God in a difficult situation? What did that look like for you? How can Carol's story encourage you to release your expectations to the Lord and pray "thy will be done" even when it's hard?

2. Carol mentions "praying for mercy" when she cannot control the outcome. When have you prayed for mercy in your own life? What did that prayer look like?  

3. Carol says, "I realized that my son has purpose, he has meaning." Think of a difficult situation you are facing right now. How might God use that situation for purpose and meaning, even if it's hard to see now?

4. Carol describes having to "relinquish" her dreams and plans for her family. Is there something you need to relinquish to God right now? How can you lay down your expectations and align your will with His?

Linda Evans Shepherd is an international speaker and a best-selling author of 38 books including Praying Through the Hard Times. She is the CEO and founder of Right to the Heart Ministries which includes the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Arise Esther Movement, Leading Hearts Magazine, and the Arise Daily Devotionals.
Important Links:
Linda's Prayer Books: https://www.gottopray.com/linda-s-pra...

Get Linda's Blessing Gift Here: https://blessing.pages.ontraport.net/...

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Transcript

SEASON 1 | EPISODE 2

Prayer Investigator: Prayer for an Arrested Son with Carol Kent

[00:00:00] LINDA EVANS SHEPHERD: I'm your host, Linda Evans Shepherd, the prayer investigator. And today I have a wonderful friend, a fellow author, and as I say, authors always have the most incredible stories. And that is certainly true of today's guest, my dear friend, Carol Kent. Carol Kent was a woman, a mom who had to. Face an impossible situation, and she's going to tell us how she made it through.

[00:00:31] LINDA: But first, let me tell you a little bit about Carol. Carol is an author of wonderful books, and she's actually sold over a million. She's been on stages like Women of Faith, and she has spoken around the world. Carol, we are so glad to have you here today. Linda, thank you so much. It is an honor to be on the air with you, Carol.

[00:00:57] LINDA: We are all looking forward to hearing your story about how, as a mom, you had to face an impossible situation. And we want to know how prayer helped you through this. Could you tell us your story? 

CAROL: I would be so happy to do that, Linda. I grew up in a Christian home. I'm the oldest of six preachers kids, and we really had a wonderful experience of getting to know Jesus very personally at a young age because if you were in our family, you were in church when the door was open.

[00:01:31] CAROL:  I memorized a lot of scripture and I grew up and got married. To Jean Kent, right after I graduated from college. And five years later, I gave birth to a little boy. We named Jason Paul Kent. We call him JP. He grew up as an only child and he was a delight to raise. And he set his sights on getting into the U. S. Naval Academy, and he finally did just that. And we were there in Annapolis. In May of 1997 when on national television, all of those midshipmen tossed those hats in the air, and we celebrated our young sons accomplishments. From there, he went to Orlando, Florida, where he was a nuclear engineering school.

[00:02:13] CAROL: He joined a great church and there were lots of young adults, about 300 of them studying the Bible together every week. And he took interest in a young woman in that Bible study. And by the end of summer, he had fallen madly in love. I was in Denver for a speaking engagement later that summer and called home for messages.

[00:02:35] CAROL: And on voicemail, I heard my son say. Mom and dad, some things are coming down. We have to talk. Let's add a moment like that. You wish your child would add two or three more sentences about what is coming down. We got ahold of him later and he said, my orders have changed. I have to be at surface warfare officer school in Newport, Rhode Island on September 8th.

[00:02:58] CAROL: April and I are in love and we want to get married next Friday so we can go together. Our only child was asking to marry a woman we had never met, a woman who had two little girls next Friday, and I had some concerns. We asked them if they would be willing to wait three weeks to be married in the accountability of our hometown with family and friends around them.

[00:03:24] CAROL: And they agreed. And a week and a half later, April and these precious little girls came into our lives. We had a beautiful wedding on a picture perfect day. And we really believed as we looked at that gorgeous couple and those precious little step granddaughters that we were going to be living in a story that should end and they lived happily.

[00:03:47] CAROL:  Ever after. But Linda, as that next year began to go by and our son would call home instead of talking about global events and his work with the Navy, Jason was obsessed with his fears that his young stepdaughters were going to be alone with their biological father. There had been multiple allegations of abuse involving the biological father.

[00:04:12] CAROL: He was granted only supervised visitation, and he'd been behaving very well. It appeared a judge was going to give him unsupervised visitation, and at that point, we began to see our son. unravel mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And Linda, one year after they were married, we received a middle of the night call that shocked us.

[00:04:37] CAROL:  I remember my husband pulling the receiver away from his ear as he said, Carol, Jason has just been arrested for the murder of his wife's first husband. He's in the jail in Orlando. I had never been in shock before a nausea swept over me. I tried to get out of bed. My legs would not hold my weight. I crawled into my office. and got a number for the Orlando jail. When I finally got through to someone, I asked about my boy and a rude voice on the other end of the line said, lady, we ain't got nobody by that name. Jason can in here, lady, your son ain't here for a moment. I thought I was in the middle of a horrific nightmare, but as our followed our, the facts of the case were confirmed.

[00:05:24] CAROL: Our son had pulled a trigger in a public parking lot. And a man had died and we began our journey to what we call a new kind of normal. Linda, I had never been more desperate to hear from the Lord. I began to call out his name in prayer and say, literally, Jesus, help me. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go for help.

[00:05:50] CAROL:  Oh, Jesus, help me. And Linda Jean went to Florida. That's my husband very early on to help April and the girls move from Panama City where Jason was in a dive school with the Navy to where he had been arrested in Orlando. I was at home pulling the finances together for what felt like buying another house.

[00:06:12] CAROL:  It was a criminal defense of gigantic magnitude and the phone rang and it was a digitized message asking me if I would accept the call from an inmate in an Orlando jail. And after I accepted that call, I heard a sob on the other end of the line. It was my boy. He said, Mom, I've just been jumped by 10 inmates.

[00:06:34] CAROL:   They were kicking me and kicking me in the head. He said, my two front teeth have been broken off. I've been kicked in the eyes. I have a cut in my ear. They stole all my stuff. But after the beating, the corrections officers took me to the faith-based area of the jail and he choked back a sob. And he said, Mom, those men were like Jesus to me.

[00:06:54] CAROL:  They washed my wounds. They brought me a clean t shirt. They brought me something to write with. They prayed over me. They were just like Jesus, mom. And then Linda, I heard the cutoff of that phone after. My 15 minutes was over and I heard this guttural whale come out of the depths of my being. And I just remember raising my hands, palm side up to the Lord.

[00:07:19] CAROL:   And I just said, God, I cannot do this journey. I cannot watch my son suffer like this. Oh, Jesus helped me. And I got on the plane the next day and I flew to Florida. Gene had already had his. Allowable 15 minute visit with our son. And so he was not allowed to go with me. And I remember waiting a long time and I heard a shuffle come down the hallway.

[00:07:44] CAROL:  I knew I would be seeing my son through plexiglass and that a corrections officer would be listening to everything we said, but I wasn't prepared for what I was about to lay eyes on. Jason was fresh from the beating. He had two fully bloodshot eyes. I saw this huge gash in his ear, and then I saw those broken front teeth.

[00:08:05] CAROL:  And for several moments, a mom and her boy sat there looking at each other through glass, not able to speak. Speak just weeping. We knew something had happened that would forever change the rest of our lives and we were grieving for the parents of the deceased as well. While they were planning a funeral, we were planning a trial for first degree murder and there was enough pain to go around and around.

[00:08:31] CAROL:  I finally was able to speak and I looked at my son and I said, Jason Paul Kent. There is nothing you could ever do that would stop my unconditional love for you, son, your dad and I are here for you. And that 15 minute visit went by very quickly. I got back out into the parking lot, and I couldn't drive because I was weeping.

[00:08:57] CAROL:  And Genesis 22 came to me. And Linda, that passage is so precious. It's about Abraham relinquishing. Isaac to the God who loved his Isaac more than he did. And I was so amazed when God asked Abraham to make the sacrifice, he got up early the next morning to make the trip to Mount Moriah. If it had been me, I would have waited until at least noon, hoping God would change his mind.

[00:09:25] CAROL:  And it was a three day trip. to Mount Moriah, knowing his son was the object of the sacrifice. And when they got there, it says that Abraham took the wood and he took the fire and his young son looked up and said, dad, we have the wooden and we have the fire, but dad, where's the lamb? And Abraham said, God himself will provide the lamb and it says he bound Isaac and laid him on the altar and in the original language the Bible was penned in that verb form for laying his Isaac down is actually a lifting up. In other words, it was a supreme act of high worship for Abraham to relinquish and lay down his son. And I just remember praying, Oh Lord.

[00:10:17] CAROL:  I relinquish to you all of my expectations of our happy family reunions and of having my son and his family around my Thanksgiving table. Oh Lord, I don't know where to turn. I don't know what to do. I only have you and I'm so afraid for my son for his safety in this horrible maximum security jail. Oh Lord Jesus give us wisdom.And we went through two and a half years and seven postponements before our son was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. That means you have a toe tag sentence, you will never be released until you are dead on a slab with a tag on your toe. It is the rest of your life.

[00:11:03] CAROL:  And Linda, that was. more than 22 years ago since we got the first news. So we have been living more than a two decade journey of having our son in a maximum security prison. I've had a lot of fears. I've needed to let go and relinquish a whole lot of times and I have learned how to pray in a different way than I ever knew before.

[00:11:27] LINDA: Carol, your story is so moving and our hearts are with you. Oh my goodness, but what treasure you have unearthed about a God who loves us, a God who was with you during those very difficult days and a God who's with your son. Even now, can you tell us what it's like to continue to have to live in this state of trusting God when you cannot control the situation?

[00:11:57] CAROL:  One of the things that's been the most important to learn is that God often answers our prayers in a different way than we expected. We often pray for an outcome that is our desire for our loved one. And I am learning To pray, Lord, I give to you what I cannot control. And then I go back to the Lord's Prayer, Linda, and I pray every day, Lord, have mercy.

[00:12:29] CAROL:  Oh, how I pray for mercy. That my son would receive an eventual end of sentence state. That he would one day be able to walk in freedom. But I know that may not be possible. And then I followed the Lord have mercy prayer by saying thy will be done. And that has been a hard prayer for me because I realized that God may choose to be glorified by keeping my son behind bars so he can be a missionary on the inside.

[00:13:01] CAROL:  And I see what he's doing. And I hear from inmates about how JP has impacted their lives. And I hear about men he has led to Jesus and about how he has mentored and continued to help men grow, not only in their knowledge of who Jesus is, but how he can solve their problems today with biblical principles.

[00:13:22] CAROL:  And I realized that my son has purpose, he has meaning. And that My prayer for the release of my son is not how God has chosen to answer at this point, but I believe God is answering in a different way, and I need to align my will with God's will and say, Father, choose to be glorified in however your kingdom can be furthered in the best way.

[00:13:52] CAROL:  Amen. possible way. And I need to let go. Even though this journey is hard, we often wait two hours to get through the security process. And in florida that's in blazing heat or torrential rain. There, there's no going to the front of the line just because you love jesus, you wait with everybody and it is a hard journey for many families.

[00:14:14] CAROL: And that's why many inmates no longer have visitors. It's difficult. But we are grateful for the people who have blessed our son. We have launched a non profit called SpeakUpForHope. org and there are people who give to Jason's ministry on the inside. And I am so thrilled to see The way men have been able to get Bible study resources or large print Bibles, or they've been able to get some money in their account to buy a pair of tennis shoes.

[00:14:45] CAROL: And our most recent project is getting some fans in the dormitories where these guys live in Florida state prisons. There's no air conditioning and it often gets to be over a hundred degrees. There are laws about how hot a dog kennel can be. But not about how hot a prison cell can be. So there are always those feelings you have of unfairness or this is just too hard.

[00:15:10] CAROL: This is just too much. And so it really is a matter of saying in prayer, God. I relinquish. I give to you what I cannot take care of myself. I trust you with the outcome. Lord, have mercy. Thy will be done. That is beautifully stated. And can you lead our friends watching today in a prayer of relinquishment for the things that they're going through and the impossible situations that they are dealing with?

[00:15:43]CAROL: I would love to do that. Let's bow our heads. Oh, Father, we thank you so much that you are our savior. You are our helper. You are the God to whom nothing is impossible. And Father, I lift up not only my own prayer for my son, but I lift up the needs of Everyone listening to my voice right now, maybe someone who has struggled with a spouse who's been unfaithful.

[00:16:12] CAROL: It might be a parent who has watched a child make poor choices or a grandchild running away from God. Lord, I know there may be some who have had to give up their dreams for the future because of health issues. Some are struggling with infertility and others are just saying nothing about my life is working.

[00:16:34] CAROL: out the way I wanted it to. And they have had to open their hands and say, I give to you what I cannot control. Father, right now, I pray that everyone who is hearing this prayer would sense your presence in his or her life. I pray that they might know they are not forgotten. They are heard. They are seen and you know are all knowing God knows what they are going through.

[00:17:08] CAROL:  And Lord, I pray that you would bring them comfort from your word, that you would bring people into their lives who will listen, who will pray with them. And who will help meet their tangible needs. Father, we thank you that we are not forgotten that you have not walked away from us and that you love us with an everlasting love in Jesus name. We pray. Amen.

[00:17:33] LINDA:   Amen. And I just want to hop onto that prayer and just say, Lord, let them feel your love and to know that their circumstances does not mean that you don't love them. Help them to understand that all they have to do is invite you in and you will give them strength. You will give them hope.

[00:17:58] LINDA:   You will help them trust you with a very difficult. things in their life. And Lord, together, we just lift up our difficulties and we lay them down at your feet. And we say, Lord, all of these difficulties are your problem. And we dedicate them to you and ask that you turn them into miracles in our own hearts and the hearts of those we love.

[00:18:25]LINDA: And we thank you for that Lord, in Jesus name. I am really glad that you tuned in today, Carol. That was such an encouragement to all of us. We so thank you for all the things that you shared with us today. You're so very welcome, Linda. And I just want to say, remember everyone, you can get a. free gift from us at my prayer gift is in the show notes below. And I'll have information with Carol's links in the show notes below as well. But I just want you to know that we hope that you will subscribe. And if you do, we will be back with more prayer programs like this one. Thank you so much for joining us and know that God loves you so much that he really wants you to talk to him. Thank you for being here with us today and see you next time.