Freedom for Autumn
22/07/2009 9:00 am <>
As a small girl Autumn was taken to church by a friend. She loved it. Her mother didn’t approve, but didn’t stop her either. With 8 more girls to care for she had enough at hand. Church made a deep impression on Autumn. Whenever she felt misunderstood or mistreated she would go to her room, close the door, kneel at her bed and pray to God.
We met Autumn when her life had made a turn for the worse. As a young girl she was introduced to the wrong places to earn easy money. The life was glamorous and she earned lots of money and sent some home, which silenced her parent’s questions. What they didn’t know was that Autumn started using drugs and was making a living through prostitution.
When we got to know her she was 48. She responded to our concern when we came to visit. One day she confided in me that she was a drug addict. She was willing to receive help, but before we could arrange for her to go to a Christian Rehab center she was notified that she needed to go to prison (her 5th prison sentence for drug abuse).
We encouraged her to check-in herself rather than wait to be caught, which would increase her punishment. She did so for the first time in her life. Later she told us that the evil one had come with another suggestion. Her drug dealer suggested she start selling drugs, that way she wouldn’t have to work so hard and could provide for her own habit. (How thoughtful!) Praise the Lord, He helped her to make the right decision, otherwise her prison term would have been much longer.
We sent her off, gave her a Bible and some money and visited her regularly in prison. When the end of her term came near we realized that she had no place to go, and that the only option left for her would be going back to her old life. However she had become a Christian. We offered that she could live with me, which would give her some time to find her footing and start a new life. In my inexperience I thought 2 or 3 months would be enough. She promised to come. Her fellow inmates laughed when she said she would succeed this time to stay out of trouble. They said goodbye, with a ‘See you again in prison’.
When Autumn found us she had already spend some of her money on buying drugs for a friend in need. Her promise to come and stay with me kept her from buying for herself. Her only belongings were a plastic bag with some clothes. Within a few days I realized that 2-3 months wouldn’t be enough for her to face the outside world and survive.
She is learning many things like living in the daylight rather then at night. When we read Genesis 1 she learned that God created night and day, that we are meant to work during the day and sleep at night. It was a great eye opener for her to realize that her whole life she had been living against Gods natural law.
Having Autumn stay with me has also been an eye opener for me. If we want the ladies to leave their old life, we need to provide an environment for them to experience healing and recovery and grow strong in The Lord, before facing the challenge of finding a normal job in the outside world.
Tera Van Twillert -Taipei
Back