Specialized Ministry — April 2008
By Patty Riddle, President, Women United Ministries, Bellevue, NE

The ringing stopped as I flipped open the cell phone.  I suppose most social service organizations operate out of an office with a phone attached to the wall.  Not me.  Mine is in my purse—the phone that is.  The office?  I don’t have one, unless you consider my car an office.  It has all the things an office has:  pens, papers, phone books, a printer (I forgot to take it out of the car), and an empty bag from McDonald’s.  My “office” has that lived in smell—a mixture of Starbucks coffee and J-Lo perfume.  But hey, who am I trying to impress?  Certainly not the woman on the other end of the phone.  She’s been living on the streets.  She doesn’t own an “office.”  She read the advertisement we placed in a local shopper that she picked up at a convenience store she frequently visits.  They sell the cheap cigarettes she buys when she can scrape together the money.

I open with my standard greeting:  “Women United Ministries!” trying my best to sound warm and inviting, “this is Patty,” as if we have an office full of people and I need to distinguish myself from the dozens of others manning the phones.

“I saw your ad in the paper” she says, her voice trembling.  

“Great!” I say.  Thinking not so much that we might be able to help her, but the fact that she saw the ad in first place meant I didn’t waste what little money I had placing it in the paper.

 “I guess I just need someone to talk to” the voice on the other end of the phone says.

“I’m glad you called.  How can I help?”  Her story was the same as all the others.  Another broken home.  Another broken relationship.  The list seems to go on forever.  I let her talk some more.  I tell her a little bit about what we do which doesn’t seem like much and invite her to come to one of our “sharing and caring” groups that we hold twice a week in a local home.  I offer to pick her up.

She says she’ll “think about it” which usually means, “I’m not sure.  I’m scared.  I need a little more convincing.”

I finish with “I’ll send you one of our brochures with our address on it.  If you want to come we’d love to have you.  Don’t hesitate to call us back if you need to.”  We exchange our goodbyes and I press the END button on the phone.  I drop the phone in my purse and then the Holy Spirit drops in on me.

“What was that all about?” He asks—already knowing.  “A little too busy to talk?”  I’m starting to feel the heat.

“No.” I reply, “I’m not too busy, she was through talking.”

“No she wasn’t” the Holy Spirit reveals to my heart.  “She was only getting started.”  Convicted, I dig in my purse and pull out the phone.  The number she called from is still registered in my “Incoming Calls” folder.

I call her back and she answers.  I ask her if she was the person that just called, and she says yes.  I try to explain to her that I just experienced a “Holy Interruption” in my day.  I don’t know if she understands or not, so I just blurt it out, “You have more to say don’t you?  You weren’t through talking!”  I say with the confidence you receive when you know the Holy Spirit has spoken into your heart.  I venture out on the limb a little further.  “When we hung up a moment ago, you were thinking ‘Just another dead-end on this road I’m traveling’ weren’t you.’”  I can hear her crying on the other end of the phone.  “I’m sorry,” I tell her.  “I didn’t mean to cut you off.  Really,” I say, now with a little more conviction, “how can I help you?”

Women United Ministries will celebrate its second year of ministry next month.  We still just have one phone and it’s still in my purse.  My office?  It still smells like a burger joint—my husband says it makes him hungry every time he drives the car.  But I’ve exchanged my portable office for a less portable one.  My notepad is now a laptop.  We still operate on a shoestring budget but God has never stopped blessing.  The crazy thing is—I still don’t know exactly what it is we’re doing!  We’re still running that same ad in the paper.  It says, “Lonely?  Frustrated?  Need someone to talk to?  Give us a call,” and it shows our phone number.  The phone rings off the wall!  Okay, “out of the purse” but you get the picture.  Hundreds of women have called seeking everything from prayer to a place to sleep—food and clothing to just a shoulder to cry on.  I keep a referral list handy at all times.  I pass out phone numbers and addresses.  I offer rides and recommendations.  We’ve fed ‘em, clothed them, furnished them, and loved them all.  We’ve brought them to church.  Led them to the Lord.  Watched them grow and mature.  All of this and I have a hundred dollars in my checking account.  That won’t even pay for the ad I’m running this week.  But God has always provided.  He’s raised up people I don’t even know to pay our phone bill; buy a week’s worth of advertising; pay for a funeral for one our lady’s stillborn grandson.  It is so amazing to watch what the Lord does in the lives of every woman I meet.  It has to be Him that’s doing it.  It certainly isn’t me!  I can’t even keep track of my purse.  I need to find it though…I hear the phone ringing.

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