On Finding a Lost Soul Face Down in a Ditch
I went to visit a young woman in the hospital today. I'll call her Shannon. She has been in and out of care with heart problems for a while now.
I had a hunch, so I asked her, "You're really here because of heroin addiction, aren't you?" Sort of. Her heart really is bad. But it's heroin withdrawal that actually bedded her two weeks ago. She escaped once before against doctors' orders, but her pain brought her back.
Her mother died of an OD last week. I posted a piece here about attending her funeral. She died alone. I tried to help guide and mentor Shannon and her siblings when they were kids. God knows they needed someone stable in their poverty-depressed lives. There's considerable question about my rate of success, as I looked at the woman in bed before me.
Once I took Shannon's mom to lunch and she told me of torture and abuse at the hands of her then-husband. Shannon today admitted she and her mom both were beaten often. She didn't dare tell anyone about it, including me. If only I had known!
The mother turned to drugs for relief and it cost her her life. I will do what I can to save her daughter. She's afraid to let anybody get too close, like there's an iceberg between us. It seemed the same when she was an adolescent. It's time for a thaw.
Why? Because maybe that's why God brought us back together after all the years apart. Maybe God helped me turn my life away from alcohol addiction to help people like this woman. We don't usually know God's will for us. I do know that turning my back on Shannon would be the same as turning my back on God.
Is there someone lying along the road looking up to you for help? Don't walk on by. You might change a life. Or save one.
I had a hunch, so I asked her, "You're really here because of heroin addiction, aren't you?" Sort of. Her heart really is bad. But it's heroin withdrawal that actually bedded her two weeks ago. She escaped once before against doctors' orders, but her pain brought her back.
Once I took Shannon's mom to lunch and she told me of torture and abuse at the hands of her then-husband. Shannon today admitted she and her mom both were beaten often. She didn't dare tell anyone about it, including me. If only I had known!
The mother turned to drugs for relief and it cost her her life. I will do what I can to save her daughter. She's afraid to let anybody get too close, like there's an iceberg between us. It seemed the same when she was an adolescent. It's time for a thaw.
Why? Because maybe that's why God brought us back together after all the years apart. Maybe God helped me turn my life away from alcohol addiction to help people like this woman. We don't usually know God's will for us. I do know that turning my back on Shannon would be the same as turning my back on God.
Is there someone lying along the road looking up to you for help? Don't walk on by. You might change a life. Or save one.
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