Good Morning Beautiful People…Go Find Your Alice

Compassion for Alice

Today, I want to tell you a story of a woman I met we will call her Alice. She had long stringy unkempt hair, was very thin and had a big wart on her nose. She lived in an apartment alone and did not keep it very clean. Her refrigerator was always bare except the beer that filled the shelves. People complained about Alice continually. She would walk to the store and you could not offer her a ride, as she was known to urinate in your vehicle. Everyone seemed to complain about Alice. I’ve met a lot of people on my journey thus far, but nobody taught me more about the love of Christ than Alice.

 I began to pray for Alice. I would take bleach and clean her toilet that she never seemed to flush. I’d wipe down her dirty counter on occasion. I tried hard to keep her in an apartment where it seemed everyone was against her.

One day I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Alice about her life. Life hadn’t been easy for. Leaving what she knew as home at the age of twelve in search of a better life must have been frightening. She had been through so much on her journey here; and alcohol was suppressing the pain. Alice could not read or write, she had no formal education and was basically a loner. Friends were few, but complainers were many.

One Christmas, I put her name in at a local church for a food box. That year the church Christmas caroled and delivered food boxes. A dear friend from the church named Marilyn delivered the box and prayed with her. A neighbor reported to me that Alice tried to eat the pumpkin pie that was in the Christmas box without first baking it. Alice knocked on the neighbor’s door and inquired why the pie was so runny. I often pondered where she got the courage to knock on that door one more time as she had been so rejected many times before. It seemed the pie was quite runny and she was having difficulty eating it. Can you imagine how awful that must have tasted? Double yuk yuk, as I do not like pumpkin pie anyway.

My daughter and I delivered her a few Christmas presents that year. Nothing elaborate, just basics. A clean pillow to rest her head (she had a urine stained mattress on the floor in her bedroom without any sheets or pillows). We had wrapped a couple of towels and washcloths and basic items in hopes she would use them. Her apartment had no sign of Christmas. No tree, no lights in the window and barely any life left in her being itself. I knew even without the thank you she appreciated it.

I continued to pray for Alice. At times my heart would ache for her and my pillow would be filled with tears as I asked God to intervene on her behalf. I thought my life had been hard, but nothing like this. Alice had endured so much more. As she shared a small part of her life story with me, I knew Alice was burying the pain in her life with alcohol. I continued to pray and to reach out to her in small ways.

One day, I received a phone call that she was quite ill and needed to go to the hospital, but she would not go by ambulance. I was unable to take her, so I put my head down on my desk and prayed and asked my Heavenly Father to make a way for this dear lady. After approximately twenty minutes, I received a phone call from a relative of Alice’s. She told me that she did not own her as a relative, but was related to her. She had heard she was sick and would go drive her to the hospital. Thank you, Jesus. You do answer prayer.

I asked some folks from the church to go pray for Alice and talk to her about Jesus. I was not confident enough at that time and didn’t want to mess anything up. I have since learned he looks at the heart and the Holy Spirit will help you. One gentleman named John took her a small stuffed animal. I am almost certain that was the only stuffed animal that Alice had ever received. Another man named Allen went as well.

When I arrived at the hospital after work. The room was empty; somehow I knew she had died. I came home and filled my pillow with more tears. I knew she was with Jesus and that her life was full of joy and she was now free from the pain that this world had brought her. I had prayed so much for her over the past year or so, I felt as if I were losing a sister. In essence, I was. I know just as sure as I am writing this post today Alice is in Heaven. The Lord has given me that assurance. I know that the Lord did not put her in my path by mistake. He used her to teach me a great deal. There was no funeral, no calling hours, and no flowers. Her belongings all went into the dumpster. The Lord showed me that the alcohol was keeping the pain down in her life. He told me to look past the alcohol and look to her heart. Her value seemed like nothing to this world. She had no assets, friends, or relatives that owned her. She did have a son, whom I had met once. He told me that Alice was going to jump off of a moving truck once when he was younger, to commit suicide, but he stopped her. He smelled of alcohol too. I was told he only came to get money once a month from Alice. I don’t know if that is even true.

Today, I just got to thank Jesus once again for salvation. Thank him for saving my friend named Alice. Thank him for the church, the food box, Marilyn, Allen, John, the stuffed animal.

We are commanded to love one another.  Lord help your church to love each other. Lord, teach us to look beyond our four walls of our own churches and go into the highways and byways and compel them to come in with your love, the love of Jesus Christ.

Father, strengthen your church that they don’t need to worry about issues such as sheep stealing, money, the color of the rugs. Today God we join our Faith across this globe for the Alice’s of this world. Your heart is our heart oh God. Show us today where our next Alice is we pray. Amen

Luke 14:23 And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.