The Christophers: When the Light Finds Us

Tony Rossi,

Director of Communications, The Christophers’

Judy Henderson felt a deep anger at God. Not only had she been physically abused by both her father and ex-husband early in life, she received a sentence of life in prison for a murder that her boyfriend committed, while he got off scot-free by manipulating the legal system. However, Judy’s soul found new life after she attended a Catholic Charities retreat while in prison.

During a “Christopher Closeup” interview about her memoir “When the Light Finds Us,” Judy explained, “They brought us food, they brought us all kinds of understanding. They didn’t care what we were there for, they didn’t even want to know…But when they washed our feet, that moment changed my life. Here they were kneeling down and showing me a love that I hadn’t known in a long time. I think that made me realize that this is the love I had been looking for…To fall in love with God, to fall in love with Jesus, to do His work, to do what He created me to do.”

Judy learned that she had a desire to help her fellow inmates. It began in a simple way. As a professional hairdresser, she started doing their hair and makeup, which led them to feel better about themselves. Then she became a fitness trainer to help them get in shape and get any drugs out of their systems. She also earned certification as a paralegal, who appealed for—and often won—clemencies for them. She taught incarcerated mothers how to talk to their children and break the “generational curse” of abuse and crime, which led them to prison in the first place.

“Then,” Judy recalled, “I had to start battered women’s groups to help women realize that they were battered women. We had to build them up and not break them down like they do whenever they come to prison. But I always kept this verse above my cell mirror that said, Jeremiah 29 11, ‘I know the plans I have for you, a future, not to cause you harm.’ I knew that prison is not where God wanted me to be. This wasn’t His doing. These were my choices, and I had to be responsible…Satan was trying to kill, steal, and destroy. I think I got so angry, in a good way, that I was going to beat [the devil] at his own game.”

Though it took 36 years of appeals, Judy finally won her release in 2017 when Gov. Eric Greitens commuted her sentence after reviewing the details of the case, which even the original prosecutor came to see as unjust.

Some time after her release, Judy gave a talk at Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The CEO offered her a job then and there because she had such a positive spirit that lacked anger or bitterness. Judy accepted the offer because she now gets to continue serving God through serving others.

Judy hopes that readers of “When the Light Finds Us” are not only absorbed by her story, but that they embrace its message of loving God, loving your neighbor, and pursuing redemption and second chances. She concluded, “People create their own prisons out here, I’ve noticed. It doesn’t have to be steel bars. Don’t let the enemy do that to you. Don’t let the enemy steal your joy. The best way to get joy is by helping others. And when you help others…good blessings come to you all the time.”

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For free copies of the Christopher News Note TURN YOUR BROKENNESS INTO HOLINESS, write: The Christophers, 264 West 40th Street, Room 603, New York, NY 10018; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org