Short Haired Beauty

She is 16 and beautiful.

Her hair is short because the police cut her hair off last year; but she works the short cut. I see her a few dark evenings in a row. Every time I see her she is not fully present. She always has her bottle of glue close, huffing it every few moments. She seems distant, like she has walls built up around her heart.

I think to myself, “Maybe she won’t be one I connect with. It doesn’t seem like she will let me in to her heart.” I often forget God’s power in moments like this. From what I see, of the girls, she is one who is most attached to her glue.

A few days later I see her in broad daylight.

She is pregnant.

Very pregnant.

The sight almost brings me to tears: huge belly with a precious life inside and momma is so out of it sniffing the glue. God why? How did she get here? Does she know what the glue is doing to her mind and body? Does she know what it’s doing to her baby? I cry out to the Lord for His hand to be on her’s and her baby’s lives every time I think of her.

She is often very emotional when we see her. She wants to keep her baby. She struggles with the drugs. It is hard to face reality.

She had a baby boy. He was taken away from her in the hospital. She is under age and does not live with family members who could be responsible for her baby. None came to the hospital to take guardianship of her son. He went into a children's home. But they worked to get her baby with an aunt.

It’s been six months since I’ve seen her last. She seeks me out right when she sees me. I am surprised at the change, some of her walls are down. The first thing she does is motion where her stomach used to be to tell me she had her baby. I ask where he is and she says he is with her aunt. A smile spreads across her face and her eyes brighten up as she talks about her son. How he is beautiful and fair skinned. She tells me she really wanted to be with him for Christmas and she got to! Her and the baby’s dad spent Christmas with her aunt and the baby. They even took a couple pictures with him. She beamed as she showed them to me on Lily’s phone.

She loves her son.

So does the dad.

They wanted and still want to have their baby with them, but they can’t bring themselves to make the changes necessary to make it happen. The hold of the drugs is so strong. They seem stuck in this life they’ve been living.

Please pray with me for this young couple. Pray that God would change their lives. Pray that they would go to the Lord for His power that’s is strong enough to break them free from any drug addiction. Pray for their baby boy, for his health and future. I long for all three of them to know God and the Savior or the world and the hope and light and life that He brings.