Are you willing to stop?

Last night my daughter and I ventured out for a bottle of carpet cleaner. I always tell myself, no looking around, go in and by what you need and leave, you have work at home.

The past two weeks as I have driven over to Target there has been a young lady standing in the middle of the street that exits onto Oswell (she's between Pier 1 and Blockbuster). I was not in the closest lane to her when I was leaving, but my daughter intently watching her and said MOM She's Crying, as my daughter also began to cry. She said MOM her sign said she is hungry and your right she is pregnant! Please Mom can we go get food.

I didn't want to look at the young lady because I was ashamed that I was not in a position to step out in faith. I confess, my faith was small, I am thinking in terms of the world…payday is 7 days away and I have enough in my account to cover the daycare check I just wrote out. How in the world do I explain this to a 9 year old?

I began looking around thinking okay Lord, I am going to confess to you, I am scared to step out but this child is insistent that I do so.

We drove over to Subway because really I did not know what this young lady could possible want and being pregnant and well that was about the healthiest. While standing in line, my daughter seen one of her teacher from the Boys & Girls Club, she asks Bri are you and mom having dinner together. We both turned around and said No, there is a young lady across the street that is hungry, this is her dinner! There was silence and joy at the same time, because here I am trying to decide what to put on someone's sandwich not knowing if they even like mustard or mayonnaise!

We departed Subway and adventured back across the street. I advised my daughter we would call her over on the grass area and we needed to pray with her. It took a few minutes to for her to spot us because the flood gate of cars came passing by. Funny thing is, as we stood there, people drove by and offered nothing. How it hurts to see the hurting. She finally did spot us and came running over. I politely said, I don't have anything I can offer you right now, but I hope this is okay for dinner? She said I am only hungry, a lot of people drive by and say nasty things to you, and not many want to help.

Her name is Jamaica. She is 30 years old and six months pregnant. She does not know the sex of the baby, but said the doctor's have told her she is healthy and the baby's weight is just fine. Her husband and she had been staying in a streamline trailer they had until it got tagged and burned to the ground. They lost what small possessions they had. So now they sleep in the truck where ever they are able to park. She was bitten by a spider because they slept outside one night, my daughter said I was bit in my room and showed Jamaica her three little bits (when my daughter was bitten you would have thought the world ended) but than Jamaica pulled up her sleeve and showed my daughter and I her bit. It looks like it was from a black widow, her entire left upper arm is swollen from the poison and the bit area is dying out. She said the doctors at KMC gave her anti-venom drugs and a lot of antibiotics for the infection. I looked at my daughter and said, Now that a spider bite!

We all continued to talk; I shared my knowledge of getting to the local shelter and getting help. My daughter observed many cars driving by and staring. The funny thing is, while we sat together, it was as if we were in an isolated park, I stopped hearing traffic for a short time. I asked her as she finished her meal if we could all pray together. She openly accepted, she said, I don't know you pray but I would like that. I smiled and said we pray in a simple way. My daughter began the prayer and how God moves in her voice, wow, I finished our prayer and I asked my daughter later, did you feel her tighten her hands around ours? She smiled and said Yes I did! And if you happened to be driving by right at that moment you would have seen God on that small grassy area : )

I can only imagine what God spoke to that young lady right at that moment in time. I am glad in my uncertainness that God still showed me his enduring faith. I have nothing to fret over, is he showed me last night. I went home to a cool house, a kitchen full of food and a bed to sleep in, it doesn't matter that my bank account doesn't have hundreds of dollars in it, having just $20 is more than many can account for. He said look around you, you are rich.

There are people who wondered around for a safe place to rest as they wondered what tomorrow would bring. I know I can't personally change the world, but I do know that My Father can if I am willing to step out in faith and trust him.

How willing are you to take the hand of a stranger? When you look into their eyes, you see a different story. Not everyone on every street corner may be worthy of the cause but God does discern who to help, and even uses the youngest of people to help to those who have been calling out to him for it. Jamaica said, I was praying to eat, Thank You. God didn't only touch Jamaica's life last night, but also the lives of each individual who drove past that street corner during our time together and the lives of me and my daughter. How cool is that!