I know I’ve been home from The World Race for over a year now, but something I’ve felt convicted of and truly regretful for was not writing enough about my experiences. I’m going to start that now. Better late than never. These blogs are intended to [finally] share what God did in and through me on The World Race, but also serve as a personal diary of sorts, helping me to always remember and never forget the incredible people I crossed paths with and the ways God proved His love and faithfulness to me over and over.
“Stop the car!” I demanded.
Our ministry director pulled over and I instantly flung my car door open and rushed to the scene. There, in the middle of the road, lie a woman… face down. Her car was about 15 feet away and driven into a fence. I got on my knees and tried communicating with her to see if she was conscious… No response.
LINDA
The director and her friend stood behind me with worried expressions across their faces. I cautiously rolled the woman onto her back and began to check her vitals. She was breathing and her heartbeat was strong, but her head was bleeding from the fall. Her eyes slowly opened and she began to moan.
“Can you tell me your name?” I asked.
After a moment, she softly answered, “Linda.”
“Linda, my name is Danielle. I’m going to do a couple tests to check for a concussion.”
I determined she had a slight concussion and should see a doctor. Slowly, I helped her sit up and asked her to share what happened. When she opened her mouth to tell her story, her breath reeked of alcohol and her speech was severely slurred. At that, our ministry director scoffed, rolled her eyes, and turned away in disgust.
She needn’t say a word. Her expression said it all.
Why help her? She’s just a drunk.
SNAP JUDGEMENTS
On the outside, I ignored it, but on the inside I was fuming.
How could she turn away? How could she call herself Christian? Yes, Linda is drunk, but she’s just broken like the rest of us. How could she not love her?
These questions flooded my mind and I felt myself hot with anger.
How can I show Jesus’ love to Linda, our director, and to the crowd that has formed?
“Linda, can I pray for you?”
With desperation and tears in her eyes, she agreed.
“Jesus, thank you for Linda. Thank you for her life. I pray You would heal her. Heal her head and any concussion, but more importantly, heal her heart. You so love Linda, and my prayer is she would know that here and now. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”
I looked up and saw the look of compassion across our director’s face. She approached me, tears filling her eyes and said, “Thank you for praying. My husband used to be an alcoholic, and all the memories of situations just like this one came flooding back to me. It’s a painful part of my family’s history, but this was such a good reminder that God loves all people, even in their pain.”
GOD IN OUR SHOES
It was like a dagger pierced my heart. There I was, angry at our director for making a snap judgement about a drunk woman, when all along, I was making a snap judgement about our director. I was instantly humbled as God reminded me every person has a story. We are all broken. We all hurt, and sometimes we respond to that hurt in the wrong way, but that’s why we all need grace.
Our hearts break for those effected by evil, but grow defensive towards those we perceive to produce the evil. Our hearts break for the sex-trafficked, but not the traffickers or buyers. Our hearts break for the refugees, but not for those who caused them to flee. Our hearts break for families suffering from the effects alcoholism, but not for the member actually struggling with it. And our hearts break for those being judged, but not for those who are judging.
But our hearts should break for all people. We must drop our defenses, put ourselves in others’ shoes and ask the question, What is really driving this behavior?
We’ve all heard that God is in our hearts, but I dare to say that God is even in our shoes, always understanding exactly where we’re at and loving us regardless.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark
world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
— Ephesians 6:12
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