| The Prayer of the Homeless Woman |
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It's been a couple days since our Monday night outreach. Usually I ride along on Suzie's blog posts and get inspired to write...but the days are going by and I don't want to forget what happened that evening....so here goes.
This month we had visitors. Fathers Mark and Earl from St. Mark's Episcopal, and another Susie from St. Mark's as well -- (if I'm not mistaken, I think Susie was training for ordination?) We had Anna, Koko, Suzie, Ned and me and our three guests this time. And of course, Haig.
Anna and I were working on distributing clothing, and this time around, it happened that the bulk of what we had collected were women's clothing. I have to say that we were a little discouraged because we were approached by so many men for clothing. There aren't many women on the street...or at least, let's say, the majority of homeless on the street are men. At one of the stops we made I noticed a woman. She had been crying, she had a scrape on her cheek, and she smelled of alcohol. She recognized me from the month prior. I greeted her and asked what was wrong...why she was crying. She told me it was a long story. Her name is Donna. We started talking. She needed clothing. Anna and I worked on finding her suitable items. Donna explained that she couldn't wear certain things for fear of being raped. She had to "dress like a tomboy". She said the street is nowhere to live for a woman. Then she opened up. She said, "You have to drink to be able to live here. There's no other way to get through it." It was so powerful. I we kept finding clothing for her, she kept thanking us. Then something beautiful happened.
She said she wanted to pray and thank the Lord for us. She took my hand and bowed her head. Father Mark had wandered over and he was there as well. I closed my eyes holding this woman's hand there in the street. "Thank you Jesus for sending your angels to us. Bless them Lord. Lord, you know I'm an alcoholic Lord. But I know that you forgive me...and you still love me Lord...." It was very moving for me. Here she was, at the very bottom, but she still had her faith, she still knew that despite her shortcomings, that God still loved her. It was very beautiful...and I was blessed to be there at that moment in this woman's presence. After the prayer I hugged her. I told her that she has to just think of this time in her life as just a fleeting moment, that it would get better....to believe that and not lose her faith, and I told her that I would pray for her (and she's praying for me as well). When we left her, she was smiling.
On our last stop, we ran into a very sweet woman named Tara. She was telling me that she hadn't been well. She was going to the doctor AGAIN tomorrow...to county...to see about an allergic reaction she was having. She showed me her arms, a rash that she was scratching. "It must have been something I ate...I don't think I can have shellfish." We were passing out cup a soup...and some of our offerings were shrimp. We switched out her shrimp for chicken and left her with some dry soup. She seemed like she wanted to talk so she kept on. Suzie and I were there with her. We were getting ready to leave when I asked her name. Tara. I told her I would pray for her....but she understood it that we were going to pray together right there and then. I was caught off guard. She said, "I pray, but it's so much nicer when we pray together." So Suzie, Tara and I bowed our heads. I tried my best to pray. I don't really know how it went...but we asked for health, for protection, for blessings. Again, I was blessed by God by being present in Tara's faith.
My prayer before our homeless runs is always that we are able to give to them as much as they give to us. I feel so blessed to be part of this ministry/outreach, and I really receive so much more from our homeless brothers and sisters than we could ever possibly give. |
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