Today, after a sweet time of prayer in the prayer room, a lady came by. She had never been before. She was exhausted from years of hope deferred, years of sleeping on the sidewalk, years of walking, years of carrying bags.
She needed to come lay down her load, put up her feet, rest in a safe place, tell her stories, be listened to, be prayed for, let her tears fall freely, and be met with love and coffee and tissues. She needed unhurried time. And a bathroom.
(Can we fathom our days without ready access to bathrooms? Chairs? A place other than our backs for what we own? Can we fathom what it must be like to be categorized by others with one look, sized up in a glance at the dirt on our clothes?)
She spoke of bucket baths, the constant need for grooming, and how hygiene is a big priority to her. “But it feels like a full-time job out here.”
After a long time, I told her to pick a space and settle in for a while. She chose the Be Still room. I gave her a Bible, and she took it and her journal and sat in the chair at the Everlasting Father station with the door open. I checked on her 30 minutes later, and she was intently reading her Bible and taking notes.
In that chair I saw a beloved daughter. I saw myself given another set of life circumstances. I saw desperation and extreme weariness, seasoned with the tiniest dash of hope. And though I have not experienced her struggles, my own made me recognize and resonate with her, and by the grace of God, compassion seized my heart.
I am overwhelmed by the need I continually see in front of me. Needs in my city, needs in my own household, needs in my heart. If it were not for the ancient River of Living Water that flows freely, abundantly, and unceasingly from His throne, I don’t know what I would do. Truth is, I don’t know what to do most of the time anyway. But I know Who does. And I know my Source is unlimited. Always enough. It often can feel like the opposite, like there’s never enough to meet the need, but it is NOT TRUE.
I don’t know where she will sleep tonight. The shelters are really not very safe for these women. She told me hard stories of survival that I can’t process well without Jesus. She cried with such a genuine hunger for Him; she wants to follow Him, she wants to know her purpose, she wants to resist the temptation she faces endlessly on the streets, she wants to be led by His Spirit and not fear. She is not the only one we know in this situation—there are so many others we know who need stable housing. It is overwhelming; how can we possibly know how to respond to it all? And yet, Jesus is with us.
Yeshua, show us how to love the one in front of us. We cannot do it all, but we can do what You ask. Help us to see what is ours and what isn’t. Help us to obey whether Your ask is small or radical. Help our hearts to remain soft. Help us all to be awake to where Your Spirit is at work in our midst. Help us to come together in unity and rise from our sleepy, dead places for the sake of Your Name, Your renown, Your glory… so we may see the power of the gospel at work in rescuing the souls of those You love and are wild about. May Your roar rise within us to storm the gates of hell and to set the captives free, deliver the prisoners, bind the brokenhearted, and share the good news that comes with real power. You promised the gates of hell would not prevail against Your church. Help us operate fully as we are meant to, as we lean into the anointing that comes with intimacy.
Thank you for telling her story.
Lovely Lana. What a beautiful post.