While we were at ministry this week in the Red Light district, we were finishing up sorting clothes upstairs when someone from my team ran up and said they needed Ashley, one of our leaders, fast.
That morning, we found out that Ashley would be coming to ministry with us. She has not been with us yet and so it was cool she was able to come. I was sorting clothes upstairs with Ashley and it was just a normal day of ministry. It sounded really quiet downstairs like all the women left. And then, someone was yelling for Ashely. We didn’t know what was going on downstairs, but we heard someone needed a new shirt because there was blood all over theirs. We found a shirt and then joined them downstairs.
There was a woman who was on drugs, had many cuts on her arms, and blood everywhere. They brought her in and sat her on the couch. The woman just cut her arm very deep and she was bleeding badly. Ashley, a nurse back in Ireland, started to wrap and tape up the wound. Everyone helped by being very calm during the situation. The woman was crying and saying things in Spanish. They got her all wrapped up and then handed her the new clothes. She grabbed them and them looked a little disoriented. She reached up her shirt and grabbed the thing she cut herself with out of her bra and threw it out the gate. Then she stumbled to the bathroom and got changed. When she came out, she grabbed her lighter from her pocket and threw it in the trash and then she sat down. We got her a plate of food and the women who work at our ministry sat down and talked with her and comforted her. My team waited until she was calmed down and then we were asked to come pray over her.
We were praying and she was weeping and hugging people. The women who were talking with her translated to us saying she wanted to change but didn’t know how. While we were praying, she said, “No más” a couple of times. She was crying a lot and didn’t want us praying because then she’d cry more. Ashley was holding onto her shoulders, comforting her and praying for her. While she prayed for peace, the woman calmed down. And then, something I’ll never forget. She grabs a red toy car from the table next to her, looks at it, kisses it, and then puts it back. She did this a few times while we prayed for her. While praying, I was asking God what this car meant for her. At that time, he didn’t reveal anything to me. So, I kept praying for her.
After prayer, the women who work at our ministry went into the kitchen to talk and we played worship music for the woman. We sat with her and she asked us our names. And then, the women care back and spoke to her in Spanish what she could choose to do next. They said, “You want change. This is what you need to do. You need to take a bus back home and not leave your house again” (Side note: she had an ankle monitor and needed to stay home at all times). They kept asking her, “Where are you going to go” and she answered, “Home.” Then we said our goodbyes and they helped her get on a bus home. They also were organizing a program she could go to to receive help and she needed to go home to receive that call. We have her hugs and then went our way to walk to the bus stop.
Through this situation and this morning, I saw the hand of God in it all and the divine appointment. It was so cool how God brought Ashley, a nurse, to ministry with us that day. It was cool the way God allowed Ashely to connect with this woman and to show her so much love in such little time. It was cool the change we saw in a short 30 minutes. God is so good and He is working even when we don’t see or notice. Also, while thinking about and praying for the woman, I asked God again what the car meant. He revealed a little to me during quiet time, but I’m still looking for more clarity. I think He was saying how the car represented life for her. She wanted more out of life. She wanted something better for herself. She looked at the car often because she wanted to change. He also revealed to me that even though she wanted to change and saw this car as a starting point for change, she still had it wrong. She misunderstood the true joy of life. She wants cars and money and to be free from the chains of drugs and alcohol and crime and depression. But, she didn’t yet know that there’s something better than all of that. In that, God just revealed to me that we see objects as things that can change our life. If only we had a little more money, we could do this thing. Or if only we had this car, we could be seen different by people. This world bases a lot of their joy and dependency on items and sometimes less on God and the joy He desires to give us.
So, even though this woman wanted something better and was seeking to be freed from her chains, she has the goal and the destination wrong; it’s cars and money instead of God. And so, if you’d like to join me in prayer for this woman, please do. Her name is Jennifer. She is probably 23-35 years old and is deep into something she doesn’t know how to get out of. She doesn’t think her life is valued and she has numerous cuts on her arms. For Jennifer, please pray for peace, divine appointments, continued help, for her to choose healing, and for in the middle of all this, that she discovers the love of God.
