We were approached by a man who said that there was a lady sat outside a shop who was crying. As we were heading there, CCTV radioed to tell us about the same lady. Sure enough, we found her outside a closed shop. We approached and asked if she was all right and with that she started opening up to us.
She had moved from London having split up with her boyfriend. She was homeless, had a general fear of men; her father had sold her for sex at the age of 11 for beer money and Social Services had put her in the care of her mother, who she said threw her out at the age of 12. Her boyfriend in London wanted her to go on the game, she said “No” and he then put a gun to her head and hit her with it.
She moved to Plymouth as she was so scared. She said only last week as she was sitting in a park, a man tried it on with her and when she said “No” he gave her a “back hand” and called her some choice words.
She cried and couldn’t understand why we were even talking to her and helping. She told us she prayed every night and had asked Jesus into her heart – we told her we were helping because she was worth it, that we were there because we cared about her safety and that as she prayed every night we were her answer to prayer.
It was obvious that she had nowhere to stay, so we asked the Prayer Pastors to contact the Salvation Army, who were willing to take her in. She agreed to go, but wanted the other lady
Street Pastor and myself to stay with her so as a team we took her there. We thought she might not stay as she was so frightened, but she was re-assured to find they had another girl sleeping in the chapel. Her face lit up when she saw the cross sat on the table where she was going to sleep, and realised she would be seen by a female staff member on Monday to help her further.
God is sooo good!