Are you a fighter or do you flee?  To be honest, I’d say for me it depends on the situation.  I will fight for my family, my life, for the Truth, and for things that are morally or ethically wrong.  I won’t always fight for my way or for things that don’t matter in the long run.  It’s simply not worth the energy.
Yesterday, I got a phone call that threw me into an intense fight that got a head start on me.  One of my young friends in a treatment center trying to take her life back from the enemy called to say she was done.  She was leaving the program.  Today would make one month she’s been in the program. 
It has been anything but easy for her.  She has had to unlock closet after closet of demons after being victimized by her pimp and the men who have purchased her over the years [John 10:10a].  Not only has she had to face all of those horrors, but she, like most girls who have been sexually exploited, has had to deal with other forms of abuse in her past.  We all like to cram our hurts and wounds as deep as possible to avoid looking at them.  When that doesn’t work, we try to run from them or numb them with any substance we can get our hands on at the time. My friend felt like Peter, sinking quickly [Matthew 14:22-32].  She packed her things, left me a voice mail, climbed in the car and was on her way to the bus station.  When I got the voice mail, I became frantic.  I knew she didn’t have a dime to her name and I knew what she would feel forced to do if she was left there, penniless.  She no longer had a cellphone.  There was no way I could reach her, but I could reach One who was with her. I cried out to the Lord, the only thing I knew to do, asking Him to peel back the cover of darkness and shine His light on the choice she was making [Psalm 3:4].  I solicited the prayers of my prayer shield, women who are armed and dangerous, always ready to fight for what is right [Exodus 17:10-12]. Within fifteen minutes my cellphone rang again.  It was my friend and she was crying.  When she told me they had stopped at a gas station on their way, I sighed audibly.  She was still with the staff of the treatment center.  The door to healing had not been shut.  I was frantic.  What could I say to her to change her mind?  I was reminded of Mark 13:11, which says, “…do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”  I talked with her for a few minutes, then I spoke with the staff member to try and get to the bottom of things.  She said they would still take my friend back to the program.  When I spoke with my friend again, trying to convince her to just go back for the night so we could face this in the light of day, she said, “I’m going back.  I give up.  I’m tired of running.  I’ll stay in the program.  I was just scared.  It’s hard.  I need you.  I can’t do this alone.”
Her words played over and over in my mind as I prepared for bed.  “I need you.  I can’t do this alone.”  Don’t we all feel that way from time to time?  We need one another.  Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  We need each other to grow.  Ecclesiastes 4:9 tells us two are better than one.  God never created us to be alone.  He created us for community.  You may be in a good place today; and thank God if you are, but what about your neighbor or friend?  Are they struggling?  Fight for them.  One day it will be your turn and you’ll want them to have your back.