Right place, right time.

Today's theme is RUN. Stop. Run some more. Next time I make a to-do list please remind me to keep it less than a mile long! My How To Use Your Bible Class is scheduled for 6:30 pm at Strawberry Plains United Methodist Church. Still on the list is a quick run to Morristown, a stop in Jefferson City and then on to Strawberry Plains.

Absolutely NO time for the unexpected. None!

But, the Morristown appointment was incredibly short. The lady I was supposed to see in Jefferson City wasn't there and my hair was bugging me. It was Two and a half hours before I needed to be at the church. That should be plenty of time. A phone-ahead call was made and I turned my car to the style shop.

The thing is, when you work for an agency like Hope for Healing.org no matter where you are, no matter what you do, you are always "On". People know this. They count on it. There is no "down" time. Inevitably, IT always comes up.

My haircut took 20 minutes - about the same as it always does.
I was there almost 2 hours.

Why?

Someone needed to talk.

She wasn't in a crisis but she needed someone. She wasn't in crisis. Her life wasn't turned upside down. Memories of what happened a long time ago had been bothering her.

And for the next while, she talked. I listened. I saw a thin woman revisit a horrifying event from her teenage years. She trembled. Her voice waivered. She told me what happened. She told me about her life now and her years in-between. How she'd been devastated at first and then she told me how over the years she'd reclaimed her life and found security in her family and job.

And in the end, she said she'd like to make a difference for others. Did I think that she could? Did I think she could be a help to someone?

How do you tell someone that you are completely in awe? Do you come right out and say "You're my hero"? Or do you worry they'll think you aren't as serious as you really are?

I told her that she is already making a difference.
I also told her something else -
that it wasn't her fault.

She said she knew that logically.

Now, she knows that emotionally too.

After that, the How to Use Your Bible Class went well. The people who came seemed to learn and have a good time. We did get started a few minutes late but no one seemed to mind.

If I seemed distracted tonight please forgive me. Part of me was still in the style shop talking to a young woman watching her transform from a victim to a survivor.

Thanks,

Gayle