Brittany

I wouldn't tell this story if it had ended like I wanted it to.

Yesterday I was driving home, and saw a woman standing in the median holding a sign. The Spirit of God prompted my heart to help her. I give to beggars and panhandlers often, but not always, and my heart has been growing a bit cold lately because of all I've been dealing with, so I resisted. But He became more insistent. So I said, "If I have to stop at the light up there where she is, I'll give her some money."

The light changed, and I stopped, so I held out my hand with a bill in it. She approached the car, and I saw that her sign said "Need money for a train ticket". I asked her what she needed, and she started to tell me, but we ran out of time, so I told her to meet me at the gas station across the street. I pulled in, parked, asked her if she had eaten, and she said "Not in two days," so we went into Burger King, I bought her a meal, and we sat down and talked.

Brittany's husband met a girl on the internet. He invited to move in with him and when she arrived, they both attacked and beat Brittany and physically threw her out of the house. She'd been living on the street and in the woods for several days, and had hooked up with another homeless girl who had a car, so they'd been sleeping in it (a girl, by the way, whose boyfriend had poured gas on her and set her on fire. I saw the scars). Brittany loves Jesus, and she began to cry as she told me about how she had tried hard to be a loving, supportive, and godly wife to her unbelieving husband, and how she still knew that God was not going to leave her abandoned out here, and as she spoke I understood why He'd been so insistent that I stop and help her: she was one of His children, and she'd cried out to Him for help. So he sent me.

The poor girl was understandably fearful, but I convinced her to go to Walmart with me so I could get her a phone card, so she could receive her train ticket information when I bought it online, and we also got her some food for the night, clean socks and underwear, a jacket, and some personal items. She broke down at the checkout, put her arms around me and just sobbed, and I thought "this is what life is about. Thank you, Lord."

I offered, of course to give her (and her friend) a place to stay and shower for the night, but of course it's not easy to trust some guy you just met, especially after what they'd been through, so they declined, as I'd expected them to. But I had a bad feeling about her being out there, and about her making her train which left early in the morning. But they said they were going to go to the Haven (a shelter) and then to the station the next morning, so that was all I could do. But I couldn't get it out of my mind, so I went back down to where I'd left them with a blanket, because it got cold last night, but they were already gone, so I just went home and prayed for her.

But this morning I started getting phone calls from her husband--from her phone. I don't know how this happened, whether she went with him willingly, what her current condition is, or how to find or contact her, since he's got her phone. But it didn't sound good. I don't have enough to contact the police with, nor even know which agency to contact, since I don't know where they live.

No doubt some of you are assuming I got scammed. But remember, I was a cop, have worked in prison, and have quite a bit of experience ministering to the homeless. I'm pretty good at knowing when I'm being scammed (but sometimes choose to give anyway). This girl's pathos was real, And anyway, it's only money, and I've got more of it than I really need.

So why am I telling you this? I don't normally publicly announce the things I do in service to God and to help others. But I'm telling you so I can ask you to pray for her. Please. And also to get it off my chest. As you may have noticed, I find it very therapeutic to write about the painful things in my life, so that you can read them. I don't know why. Maybe God just made me a writer. Anyway, I'm eaten up with concern and worry for that poor, sweet girl, and also having a bit of a struggle: I was so sure God sent me to help her, and it seems to have ended badly. Did the devil get in? Did I not pray enough? Should I have tried harder to see her safely to somewhere for the night? I wish I'd said, when she hugged my goodbye, the simple words, "I love you, and you are beautiful and precious." But I didn't, and now she may be back in a horrible situation against her will, and her very life may be in danger. So mostly, I'm telling you so that you can pray for her.

Thanks.