We met her online.
One conversation among the many our digital outreach team has each week, the kind of small, ordinary moment that easily gets overlooked.
We learned over time that she’s pregnant. She has a one-year-old at home already. Two different fathers for her children, and both have abandoned her while pregnant. She’s exhausted in ways that go beyond sleep, and she’ll stop at nothing to bring money into her household to put a roof over their heads.
We didn’t come to her with an agenda. We came with presence. From the first text message back asking for prayer, to a phone call where she wept exhausted tears, to an in person meetup where we could see the toll this life is taking on her body and, mostly, her soul. We brought groceries and diapers, small practical things for her and her little one. We sat with her. We prayed with her. We connected her to local resources.
We keep talking, every week. Sometimes it’s fifteen minutes. Sometimes it’s longer. We ask how she’s doing, really doing. We ask about her kids. We remind her, gently and consistently, that she is seen and she is valued. She is an image bearer, made in the likeness of God, and we see her that way even on the days she may not see herself that way. God sees her. We see her.
It wasn’t a grand gesture. It was just showing up, the same way we do every week, in a slightly different form.
We don’t know what her story looks like a year from now. That’s not ours to control. What we do know is that she has someone showing up, week after week, who isn’t going anywhere.
That’s what long-term relationship looks like. Not a single dramatic moment, just consistency, one conversation and one meetup at a time.
To learn more about digital outreach visit: https://scarlethope.org/digital-outreach/
