Self- Work is the Official support Column of Matteo F. Our Chairman of BPRRS Board. This column appears in each of our by- monthly BPRRS Newsletters with wise, though topping information.
SELF-WORK
Posted 5/6/2026 By Steven Provost (Co-Founder/Exec. Director)
SELF-WORK TRUST
What is trust? Can you define trust? How important is it? What would a relationship be without trust? By nature of being incarcerated, we have violated the trust of family, friends, colleagues, employers, and society in general. Whether we are guilty or not, the reality is we have to earn trust back. Its not simply “just trust me”. That won’t work. Many end up in prison because trust was violated in their lives –whether as a child, or a friend, or spouse. The re-building of trust is not easy. And most can’t define it adequately. Yet without trust we can’t function in any relationship capacity outside the wall, as without it, no relationship works.The best definition I have ever known for this is in the book, “The Speed of Trust” by Steven Covey Jr. Trust is gained in 4 quadrants, divided by 2 realms. The realms are inside and outside. The inside is your character. The outside is your competence. Your character is defined by your integrity and you intentions.Integrity is how trustworthy you are. Doing what you say you will do –when you say you will do it-even when no one is looking. Intention is harder to gauge. We have to anticipate distrust from others, so stating our intentions is part of the process. “ I intend to be the husband you can be proud of….. the father you need me to be in your life…. A hardworking and punctual employee…. A student of your company and learn everything I can to be an effective employee” Though stating it doesn’t earn trust in and of itself, it help allay some questions as to why you are doing what you are doing –it is part of the overall process. Your Competence is basically your capacity and your history. This is observable and potent in re-defining who people think you are. Capacity is your qualifications, skill set. I may be an honest guy, with great intentions, but to assume that I can come in as a CEO or a manager of a company without demonstrating I can handle the demands is unrealistic. Time, learning, and being teachable as well as demonstrating my ability to those who make decisions or become our customers in our own self employed world, will establish capacity competence. History works hand in hand with capacity. Simply put, it is your track record. History and competence depend on each other to be established. The longer your track record is consistently seen, the stronger the Capacity, Integrity and Intention will be established. It requires patience. Impatience won’t serve us. Rebuilding trust is the single most important element of success outside the walls
Self-image is a major point of work for all the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. Rebuilding this is always a challenge. The old saying, “Do right 1,000 times and no one notices; Do wrong once, no one forgets” is true to form. Others will look at a label and think that is who we are. What is important is that we don’t define ourselves on their terms. We must define ourselves by what God’s terms. There are 3 truths I have come to know:1-God sees us in…..2-God sees in us….3-God speaks to us…..God sees us in all our circumstances. He sees in our failures, and He us in our successes. He sees our whole life, not a select part of our life. He sees the brokenness, the loneliness, the rejection and the pain. So He truly understands the whole picture. God sees in us the man or woman he created for a purpose. He sees the potential. He sees in us the divine spark he destined to do great things. He sees in us a clean slate and story yet unwritten.God speaks to us from a place of destiny. He sees the end of the story and always addresses us in the future success of where we were meant to be
Gideon is a great example.In Judges 6, Gideon is doing what was then “woman’s work” of threshing wheat in a wine press underground,hiding from the raiding armies oppressing the nation. And an angel approached him with the greeting “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor”. Its laughable to look at what he was doing,where he was,and see a man of valor. But in the end of his story, he was able to defeat an army of 135,000 with 300 men. So,the greeting was speaking into Gideon the purpose, the vision, the man he was meant to be. So,I say to you, all of you’re turning-Rise up, oh mighty man/woman of valor, for the Lord is with you!You will succeed, you will overcome, and you are defined by the God who loves you, and the choices you make now. .
SELF-WORK
Addiction: Step 1
We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behavior, that our life had become unmanageable.
Admission has such power. Most of us, whether addicted to a substance, power, anger, fear, money, sex, or even misery, had become a slave to it. When we
are slaves, we are not free. We are bound with shackles to the brick that pulls us in one direction….. down. These cement shoes have one purpose- to drown us.
And denial is the enemy of admission. If we deny the cement shoes of slavery that are on our feet, they continue to have power because it remains
unchallenged. It also means we are choosing a lie over the truth. “Bill” in “the Big Book” wisely cuts through our
denial before we start. Admission that we are powerless frees us to seek freedom from the lie that binds us. Admission is honesty. And in honesty we find truth. In truth there is freedom because now your eyes are on the very thing that was destroying you.
There is a story in John 5:5-6 where an invalid was waiting for a local myth to heal him. Jesus approached him and asked, “Do you want to get well?”
Jesus healed him. The man wanted to be well. And, for us, he asks the same question, “DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL ?“. Honesty BEGINS WITH
recognition of our slavery. When we admit our powerlessness, and surrender to our higher power in steps 2 and 3, we find freedom. We find liberation. And, here, we find we can conquer this thing called, “Addiction”.
Created 5/20/2025 – Updated 5/20/2025