Jenny

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She played with my kids when they were young, well, sometimes. None of the neighborhood kids liked Jenny. So usually she played alone.

Jenny was always … different. Rebellious and angry right from the start, she cussed. She hated. She bullied everyone in sight. She seemed happiest when she succeeded at making someone else cry.

Bad parenting? I don’t know. Jenny was the second of four kids. The other three were regular normal kids who fit right in. But Jenny was always different.

Jenny had a hard life. She was in and out of rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. She gave birth to her first child at the age of 13. At 14 she had a second child, and at 16 a third. Her parents raised those three children as if their own, along with their own four. They worked hard and struggled with poverty. Jenny’s dad was a delivery driver and her mom was a cleaning lady. They both had newspaper routes, and whatever additional miscellaneous work they could get.

Before Jenny turned 20 she’d served jail time for prostitution and drugs.

I haven’t seen Jenny in years, but I did discover her on social media.

Last week Jenny died unexpectedly in her sleep. Her family said she’ll be cremated and there will be no service. The obituary said she’s a member of a small evangelical Christian church.

My heart leapt when I read that. Had Jenny come to know Jesus in her lifetime? I pray that it is so!

God, I pray that Jenny has found love and peace with you.

Amen.