Ally's Rescue Intervention
/February 6th, 2019. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I tossed and turned all night, knowing what lay ahead at 7am. Every hour, my alarm would go off to get up and check our daughter’s bed to make sure she was still there. Yes, we had the home alarm set with a secret code, but she had found ways out before, leaving the alarm intact. We must get her safe. Once she’s safe, I can sleep tomorrow.
Every hour closer we got to 7am, butterflies and knots formed in my stomach. How was this going to go? Was she going to run down the road? Were we physically going to have to put her in the car?
5:00am. The Lord dropped the words in my spirit to say to Ally that morning. I reached in the dark for my phone on the nightstand, opened to a new note and typed out what I heard the Lord saying. It was sweet. It spoke her language of adventure. It was loving.
“Today you’re starting a new adventure, you will get to live away from home like you want, but safely...it will be a focus on “you” time. You may feel alone and it’s not possible, but this place is equipped to come alongside you and help...I believe in you...and I believe this will give you that help to succeed at what you’ve been trying to do on your own. God provided this. You are so incredibly important to Him, that He supernaturally made this possible for you, to love on you and give you the help you need. You get to start a brand new adventure.”
God knows she’s wired for adventure, how sweet of Him to speak her language.
I was thankful He gave me something to read to her that morning. Even still, it would be hard to get through the words without breaking down.
6:00am. I couldn’t go back to sleep and started getting myself ready for the day. Just one hour until the counselor would arrive to help Ally walk what was coming. I had her suitcase packed with all the approved clothing, hidden away in my closet. Just the last minute toiletries and bedding were left to gather once we got through the moment I’m dreading. God, HELP us get through this. Give us all strength, I pray this goes well.
6:30am. Ally was dragging, she got up late and began getting herself ready for school, like it was any other day. Jokingly, she states…”Dad, I don’t want to go to school today!” His only response, “Okay”. She continued getting ready...while I wondered, is she starting to pick up on the oddness of this morning?
7:00am. It’s time. I open the front door to let the counselor in. It’s a grievous morning, and yet, as I sobbed on my husband’s shoulder the night before, I was also in awe of how much God loved our girl, to miraculously provide and make a way for her. He was there to personally rescue her. The great Waymaker.
You see, over the last year, prior to this day, mornings were spent on my knees in prayer, praising and worshipping God, who was bigger than what my natural eyes were seeing unfold in my daughter’s behavior and seeing in faith the answers to break through her deep-rooted hurt and rejection that began it’s way in at a very young age.
I knew all too well, the strategy of the enemy is to get us to give up. I chose to press in. During times of prayer and scripture study, the Holy Spirit would give me verses to pray and stand on, that would grow my faith in what HE would do. Some days, I paced, authoritively praying healing and breakthrough for my hurting daughter. Other days sometimes involved asking the Holy Spirit to give me utterance to pray perfectly in my prayer language. Still others, asking the Holy Spirit, “What does my daughter need from me today? Please minister to her through me. - I know she’s hurting”
What came divinely together was His doing, it was Him answering faith-filled prayer. In the Fall of 2018, God had given two people dreams about Ally’s hurt. Side note, God can do ANYTHING - even give dreams to people about your situation. One of the dreams was given to a long time, precious family friend in another city. God had shown her the depth of Ally’s hurt. The source of Ally’s hurt. It broke her heart and she reached out to me to tell me of the dream.
She would occasionally check on Ally and how she was doing. We all thought she was doing great. Even her counselor thought so. Then she went missing that dreadful weekend in February. We thought she was at a friends house for a sleepover, but had started to get an uneasy feeling when the “mom” who had been texting with me was no longer responding to answer how we would meet up. Nor could I get a hold of Ally. It seemed her phone had died. I tried to suppress the panic of realizing I didn’t really know how or where to get my daughter back. And that this “mom” on the other end of the text who wasn’t answering my calls, could really be anyone. A couple hours went by, when I got a life-saving phone call.
“Mrs. Anderson, I’m worried about Ally, she isn’t where she said. A guy flew in from Georgia to meet her and he was supposed to have a rental car to get her home. Her phone died and I’m afraid he’s keeping her and she’s in danger.”
After a truly miraculous series of events to find her, I can’t deny the help of the Holy Spirit that day. We were able to remove her from this guy, called the police, all while this man had the nerve to tell us that she was 16 and the police could do nothing. He was right. The police came and went, and we took our daughter home. At that time, we had NO idea what that man was planning…more on that later.
I let this friend know the update. We were wrong. She’s not doing well - a guy had flown in from out of state and was lying his way into getting her to leave with him. This is serious. Go where? She wasn’t in her right mind. Later, I would find out the aggression was the influence of drugs in her system that he had given her.
I believe that God gave this particular friend that dream well before this incident to prepare her heart for this moment that February…a heart full of compassion. A supernatural God-plan of intervention. She was compelled to do something…”Phoebe, she needs real healing and real help. Tell her you may have to send her somewhere to get it.” I knew, and Ally knew, we could not afford what she needed and that it would be an empty threat. We had looked at Christian residential therapy programs before, and dismissed it due to cost. I proceeded to call and check on scholarship opportunities - none were available.
After passing along what I had found out to our friend, her response was life-changing. “We want to help. We will pay. Pray about it, if you decide to do it...you have to know it will be hard and you will have to stand your ground.”
Wow. Absolutely blown away - one moment, we were crying out to God...WHAT do we do right now??? Our child is trying to escape and not in her right mind. Moments later this miraculous option is on the table to consider and pray about. I never in my life ever thought I’d be walking this nightmare with my child. But here we were. We began to pray that God would make known what we should do.
Hours later, Ally’s counselor had asked to call and talk to her. Another gift in our life, we are so grateful for this amazing person (and all the people) God has placed around Ally - she was there just days before to help find her when she was missing. I allowed her to get on the phone within earshot. 30-minutes later, I think I hear laughing. Hmmm. That’s odd. I really don’t think she would be laughing right now on the phone with her counselor. I sent a quick text…”Hey, are you still on the phone with Ally?”. The response…”No.”
Uh-oh. I swooshed in. No! She was on the phone with him. That was the moment my husband and I knew the difficult decision we had to make. She was a flight risk. We had to get her safe.
The next day, a Tuesday, I received texts from her school friends. I had asked them not to let her use their phones that day. Their texts informed me, they weren’t letting her, but she was on everyone else’s phones at school. What she wasn’t aware of is, as she was making calls, so were we.
By this time, I had already reached out to the residential program we had chosen, sharing the urgency of the situation. I remember them asking, “Do you think you can wait until Monday?” Everything in me sensed a deep urgency and I replied, “I don’t think we will make it to Monday.”
“Okay, let me talk to the director and call you back.”
About an hour later, the phone call came, “If you can get everything on this list, we can get her checked-in tomorrow morning.”
God intervened once again, turning what is normally a 7-day process, to less than 24 hours.
I had 3 short hours to shop for everything on that list. It was like back-to-school shopping. Changing schools meant attire requirements and school supplies. School shopping is normally so fun for me. That day was painful.
I shopped with tears in my eyes knowing what I was shopping for. I walked the aisles alone, bursting into tears off and on. This felt like college dorm shopping, except normally, you see it coming and plan and prepare for that day when your child leaves home. I wasn’t prepared for this.
I remember the lady checking me out, “How’s your day going?” and bursting into tears. “I have to send my daughter somewhere safe, this is not a fun shopping trip knowing what it’s for.” That caring cashier looked at me knowingly…”I’m so sorry, it’s going to be okay. God will help you and your daughter.”
7:05am. Ally walked around the corner from her bedroom, backpack in hand for school. She sees her counselor and offers a questioning greeting.
“Hey hun, come sit down.” I whisper.
Here we go.
Her dad sat in on one side of her and I sat closely on the other, in the corner of our sectional. Her counselor sat quietly on the end of the sectional across the way. This was certainly not a moment we would want to let someone in to share and watch unfold, and yet, we knew it was right to ask her to be there for Ally. That was another God prompting.
I opened the saved note on my phone, and could barely make out the words through blurred tears. Breaking a few times, I made it through reading what I felt the Lord wanted her to know. We had braced ourselves for the reaction that came next.
“NO! Don’t send me! Dad!” she cried over and over.
Sobbing, Brandon’s cracked tearful voice lovingly replied, “Sweety, I don’t want to. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but I don’t have a choice. I love you. I want you to know this is not something I’m doing to you. As much as I want you to stay, I want you to be healthy, healed and whole MORE.”
I stood up and encouraged her, “Why don’t you spend a few moments with your counselor, while we get your things.”
We are so grateful God orchestrated that morning. Her counselor was able to calm her down, encouraging her from experience. Quietly, she explained, “This is a great opportunity to have a year to focus on you. I spent a year away at Teen Mania, and it changed me.”
Deep down, I think Ally knew she needed this.
Her brother was about to be picked up for school, it was time for them to say goodbyes to each other. Ally walked over, burst into tears while wrapping her arms around him.
“Bye sis, I love you. I’ll see you later.”
“I love you.”, she cried softly in his ear.
We got the last of her things in the car and gave her and her counselor a few more moments. They embraced, Ally’s face tear-streaked. I crawled in the back seat of our little Mustang, giving Ally the front seat. She got in calmly, almost relieved this fight was over, and help was within reach.
Brandon, holding her hand in his, offered “I’ll get you whatever you want for breakfast.”
A half-smile on her face, and without hesitation came her answer, “Chick-Fil-A and Aspen coffee.”
With two hours of the drive down and one to still go, I observed precious father/daughter moments, hand-in-hand nearly the whole way. Brandon had repeatedly assured Ally, how much we loved her and in no way were we giving up and sending her away, but rather, God provided miraculously the help and healing she desperately needed.
That last hour, the reality of what we were about to do hit hard. One hour left before placing her in the hands of another. But really, thinking back, our kids are in another’s hands all along...His hands.
From the back seat, this surreal moment began to unfold. I looked at the clock, realizing the hour of check-in was closing in. Brandon turned on worship music to help lift the heavy sadness we were feeling. I glanced in the rearview mirror to see his eyes, full of tears. He told me later, he felt like Abraham, obediently walking his son up the mountain to the altar. The song that was playing couldn’t have been more fitting, and emotion washed over me hearing the lyrics to a powerful worship song, Raise A Hallelujah, combined with seeing my husband’s tears spill over as he tenderly held Ally’s hand. I knew in my spirit I was observing a “turning point” moment. I was watching the beginning of a life-changing turn. I quickly pressed record on my phone from my backseat perspective, to capture this emotionally moving moment that would one day be significant.
Emotion washed over me hearing the lyrics to a powerful worship song, Raise A Hallelujah, and seeing my husband’s tears spill over as he tenderly held Ally’s hand.
(tap HERE for song playing in the background of this moment)
That song playing in the background became our family’s anthem. Choosing worship, praise and thanksgiving in the midst of our storm.
Raise A Hallelujah by Bethel Music
I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me
I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!
I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me
I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee
I raise a hallelujah, in the middle of the mystery
I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me!
After checking her in and getting her settled, we began our drive back home with varying emotions, however, gratefulness knowing she was safe was at the top of the list.
I knew I could not dwell on all that would be “missed” over the next year. Birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc., but would have to remain settled and steadfast in the God who had us. He gave me two verses for that moment.
Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalms 30:5)
And Jesus, being my example, it was for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2) and for the joy set before us, we would endure hard things too.
Two months later. Our daughter revealed on our April visit, the terrifying truth of how close she had gotten to completely disappearing. 2 days. Friday was the day it was going to go down. The man from out of state had arranged her plane ticket and a pick up plan from school. That explained the urgency in my spirit when asked by the facility if we could wait until Monday. Praise God for the Holy Spirit, our Guide, our Helper!
This young man from four states away had initiated contact on Instagram, via a secret account on her extra temp phone. Right after her 16th birthday. The age considered by law to be of age and not get in trouble. Coincidence? Hardly. He worked at a camp she attended YEARS before, when we lived in another state. He traveled all this way to meet up and was trying to convince her to leave.
“Just come with me, I’ll take care of you. I’m a stockbroker and have plenty...no more house rules, and I’ll buy you all the Chick-Fil-A you want.”, he assured her.
Through tears during that eye-opening visit in April, our precious daughter shared how glad she was that we knew where she was. Admitting she wasn’t in her right mind at the time, she shared how she had been romanced into believing in his care for her, even though it would involve living in a trap house - and eventually taken out of the country. Oh, the enticing lure to travel and lies of a better life. She admitted that she had bad vibes, but was in a dark place, drowning in hurt, that she just didn’t care what happened to her anymore. We also had learned with our own research tracking him down through the camp, and speaking with his dad that he had been involved in drug trafficking. All he told our daughter was a lie - he didn’t have a job, he was broke and lived at home. So who funded this trip out here? Who was buying her ticket? Where was she going to end up? It is believed he had trafficking plans in mind for our girl. The residential program told us they have seen stories like this, they are very familiar with the signs of trafficking…and this had the red flags all over it. We recorded our story with the Sex Trafficking hotline, and reported to the police all that had happened.
The enemy had a plan, but God’s plan intervened. His love for our girl and His divine rescue has literally brought me to my knees in gratitude. Prayer works. It unleashes the mighty power of God to work on our behalf!
I’m excited to share our journey this past year of what God has done to RESTORE our girl and our family. Never give up!
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