Baby B

I came home one Friday afternoon for lunch, and was pleasantly surprised to find my flatmate, Alli, feeding a tiny baby – four months old, desperately hungry, sucking a bottle as if she’d never had one before.

The police in one of our communities had given her a call to come and fetch this baby because her mother was threatening to leave her right there. She’s a drug addict, who is trying incredibly hard to make a positive change, and has booked herself into rehab. Her home situation is that all of her family and the people who live with her are addicted to drugs too, so she is never at peace about leaving the baby alone. She had run out of options that day; she had to choose between going into rehab and leaving her vulnerable baby at home, or forgoing the treatment to stay and look after her.

This is the reality of the communities we work in, and the people we meet and the lives we engage in. Every day, we see how the addiction to drugs destroys lives. We hear stories about how women get beaten, and we see the bruises (physical and emotional). They share with us the reasons they drink; how alcohol provides an escape to a hellish reality.

But then we also get to participate in the redemption stories.

I meet with a group of women every week (sometimes twice a week) who are so hungry for change. Just today one of them was able to tell her story of how God changed her life and how a life with Jesus is better than the reality of drug-addicted past and the way she used to neglect her children; this testimony she shared in front of many just before she got baptised. She told of a life filled with hope and a new love for her children. She is so motivated to spread this story to her friends, who are still caught up in the life she used to be trapped. One of them was at her baptism today. And this past week, this same friend came to the realisation that alcohol will not make her problems go away. It’s one thing to know this fact cognitively; but it’s another when this truth becomes a reality. She has mentioned on a number of occasions that she, too, wants a different way of living. She’s thinking about baptism and we are waiting for the day that she will take the step and choose to walk away from the things that destroy her life.

And, right in my home, I have the privilege of being part of baby B’s story. She’s an absolute delight. Today, I rocked her to sleep and fed her a bottle, and watched her laugh and relax and revel in contentment. (I also cleaned her puke and dribble, and I won’t be surprised if I get asked to change her diaper too!). We will only have her for a few days until a foster family will take care of her.

I have loved every minute of her being here. I get the biggest thrill knowing that my life is being used to make a difference in the lives of others.

My flatmate, Alli, works for an organisation called the Baby Safe, committed to offering life, hope and options for desperate women in crises, and their babies. It is an amazing ministry – please feel free to read more about who they are and what they do here – www.babysafe.org