This One Woman

Movement caught my eye through the sheer curtains covering my front picture window. A young woman, walking quickly, moved down the street as though she had somewhere to go. I made a mental note that I didn't remember seeing her before, and I walked to the door to look out. She carried several bags, including a duffel. In the 90 something degree heat, it would have been a miserable way for anyone to walk.

There was something about her that made me look more closely than I probably would have. She was obviously pregnant. I looked at my husband. We both silently acknowledged that pregnant women do not load their belongings into a few bags, hang them over their shoulders and go for brisk walks down side streets in the middle of very hot summer days in Tennessee. They don't, unless they have something they are trying to get away from and are hiking to the bus stop.

I wish I could say that I rushed out the door and went to see if there was a need I could meet. I could have offered a ride, or a cold drink, or maybe, just maybe, the story of One who could meet all of her needs. Those are the things that I wish I had done.

Instead, I watched her as she disappeared down the street, and I felt sad. Sad that this one woman had to be in that situation. Sad that I felt unqualified to place myself in the middle of.....the middle of what? I don't know. I didn't ask.

Everything here is my own conjecture. I don't really know what the situation was for this woman. The only way I could have known for sure would have been to walk out and talk to her---something I did not do. So, while I can pray for her in a very generic way, I can't pray for her specific needs or by her name. I trust the Lord is very aware of those things, and so I pray for a nameless woman walking down the street on a very hot day, and for the future of the baby that she carries.

Anything else is impossible unless the Lord brings me back into contact with her again. Now I pray that she will come in contact with another Christian who will do what I did not. That she will have the chance to experience the never-ending, all-encompassing love that I kept from her today. That, in spite of me, she will be able to spend eternity in Heaven. Then I pray that next time, I will take advantage of the opportunity to share His love with one more person.

"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand.......For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?"

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Matthew 25:34-40