A call came across the radio. A 19 year old woman had left her home, about 90 miles away, and was suicidal. Her cell phone had pinged to our county. (note: in emergency situations, such as a person indicating they might hurt themselves, law enforcement can track the person's cell phone. We call it "pinging" the phone. We can usually get a fairly accurate idea of their location and find them) She was slightly east of town and moving east on the freeway that cuts through the center of our county. But as I heard them report her moving east, along with her name and description of the vehicle she was driving, I knew in my mind that I needed to go west.
I asked the other Deputy where he was going and he said he would head east and try to catch up to her on the freeway. I was glad he said that, because I had a strong feeling that I needed to go west and I didn't know how I would explain that to him. So as he headed east, I got on the freeway going west. In my mind I knew where she was.
Some how I just knew she was in the rest area west of town. A few minutes later I was pulling through the rest area and I didn't see her vehicle any where. I was so sure she was there, but as I drove all the way through the rest area, I couldn't see her. Just as I was nearing the other entrance back onto the freeway, I looked back over my left shoulder and saw her little truck facing the wrong direction, parked next to a snow bank.
As I pulled in behind her truck, I heard the engine try to turn over, but it wouldn't start. I walked up to her window and introduced myself. She didn't want to talk much, but I was able to verify her identity. Her truck was out of gas and she was getting pretty cold.
Over the next half an hour, she opened up more and more. She didn't want to go home. She did have a bottle of pills that she gave to me for safe keeping. I had our dispatcher call the police department in her home town to let them know she was safe. A few minutes later I got a call from an officer in her town. He asked if he could pass my phone number on to her father.
A few minutes later, I was on the phone with a very scared father. I also had a 19 year old daughter at the time and I felt the pain of this man - and the joy he felt knowing his daughter was safe. He thanked me over and over again. Another Deputy and a State Trooper were talking with her while I talked to her dad. She wouldn't talk to him.
Eventually she agreed to let her family come pick her up. The State Trooper said he'd take her down the canyon to where they could meet up with her family. She was smiling when she thanked us and said goodbye.
I never saw her again. I like to think that everything worked out for her and that she's living a happy life. But that night as I drove home, there was no doubt in my mind that God knows every single one of us. He knows where we are and what we need. I knew He had sent me to her and maybe just for a moment, I had the honor of of being the instrument in His hands as He reached out to a daughter who was struggling. It was one of those moments that make it all worth it.
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. - John 10:14
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