Network for Life of Austin, Inc. was founded by Cheryl Selby in Austin, Texas on January 3, 2005.  Cheryl is an ex-offender who found the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while in prison.  Through her own walk with Christ she answered God's call to help others ex-offernders return to society and continue their walk in the "free world".  Galatains 5:1 "It is for freedom that you are set free..." 

I sat on my bunk in Del Valle Jail (Travis County Correctional Complex) in March 1998 and asked God to "show me".  I was always hard-headed, much like Gideon of the Old Testiment.  It was around midnight and something roused me.  As I looked across the tank, I "saw" butterfly cocoons.  You see, everyone was so cold they were wrapped head to toe in white cotton blankets.  Lights were on all the time, but in the dimness, the bunks upper and lower sections looked like big butterfly chrystalis' all on shelves. 
The Holy Spirit revealed to me that night that I had, as everyone there did, the opportunity to become something beautiful, something totally different.  It would be a struggle, just as the butterfly struggles to extracate itself from the metaphoric home. 

I read the Bible with fervor.  I asked for clergy visits and attended every service; then HE answered my prayers by sending a mentor.  She started visiting every week with me and working a mentee book for new believers with me.  I cannot say how crucial this relationship was for me to see Christ's love in flesh.  Nowdays we attend the same church and she is still visiting ladies here in Austin to let them know there is hope.  If I did it, anyone can!