I saw her from the van before anyone said a word. We were on street outreach during the World Cup Mission Trip, Go + Tell Los Angeles.

We were on a bridge in Compton. She was the first woman we spotted, and something was wrong. She was crying, struggling to walk, leaning over the edge. Unsteady. My spirit told me we needed to get to her quickly.

The van pulled over fast. Hilary and I jumped out, grabbed a rose, and ran.

I called out to her. She kept moving. I kept calling until she finally turned around and stopped.

Streams of tears rolled down her face as she caught her breath.

“My boyfriend took everything I have. He took it all. I have nothing left.”

She told us she wanted to hurt herself. That she did not want to live.

I knew in that moment this stop was life saving.

She stood there and listened as we told her that God loved her. That He sees her. That He cares deeply for her and wants a relationship with her. That there is freedom in Jesus’ name. She let us pray with her.

Something began to shift during that prayer.

The woman who had been hunched over, leaning toward the edge, slowly began to stand taller. Her countenance changed. When we finished, we hugged her, told her to call us, told her that people cared about her and that we were there for her.

She walked away. We walked the other direction.

I looked back a few times. She was moving slowly, upright, with a posture that looked different than when we found her.

It looked like hope.

It is incredible what one encounter can do when we are willing to run toward the hurting.

We were on that bridge because we showed up. She was still on that bridge because we ran.

That is the work.

Rachelle Starr