You clothe us in love.

I arrived in London on the 10.30am train, and bought a welcomed matcha from my new found fav coffee shop, that I’ve also found by the stations in Glasgow & Manchester. I looked up to see if there was a close by Coop and began to head there on the 6 min walk in search of a croissant (!)
The croissants were sold out, but I found something I wasn’t quite expecting.

There was a women in there with 2 pieces of bright pink material wrapped around her, looking very distressed and begging the security and shop assistant for some wipes, repeating over and over, “I need to clean myself.”
I went up to ask if she was okay and said I’d buy her some wipes.
The shop assistant handed me some, and I said I’d pay for them in a minute and took them to the women who was now standing there completely naked with just her socks and trainers on.

People kept coming into the busy central London store, catching a glance at her and obviously shocked, changing direction as quick as possible.

I tried to encourage her to get dressed and waited with her as she cleaned her body with the wipes, dropping them on the floor after use. I then found her some deodorant on request, which she used to spray the pieces of material she’d been wearing which once were clothes.
She asked me to find her dress and shirt, so I had a look round the store and found it on the ground so brought it over to her, but instead of putting it on, she ripped it up, trying to make it into something.

She kept flitting between asking me what I was doing and why I was looking at her, (but I wasn’t going to leave her so vulnerable like this so carried on standing with her), then a moment later, thanking me for helping her.

She saw the backpack on my back and asked me if I had any clothes for her, which I did!!! So I gave her a pair of leggings which she did thankfully put on straight away! A women who had heard and seen what was going on, threw off her coat, took her jumper off and gave it to me to give to her. This vibrant blue jumper.
I tried to encourage her to put it on, but she said she needed to calm down first. But she successfully managed to wrap the pink material back around her top half and tied it in place.

She thanked me for helping her, apologised to the stop assistant and security for the kayos she’d just caused. Picked up the wipes she’s thrown on the ground after they asked her to. And then headed out of the store, into the hustle and bustle of London again.
I paid for her wipes and deodorant and then headed out to see where she’d gone and if the was okay.

We chatted a little more. She said she was homeless and that things were crawling over her shoulder so needed to get clean.
- Which explains why she threw off all her clothes in a panic.

She wouldn’t put the jumper on but after trying to encourage her a few times to, she did tie it around her shoulders.

It’s so hard in those situations because you feel so helpless.
Yes you can offer the tiny bit of support and love in the moment but how do you deal with the long term solution?!

I love how in the store, the passer by just threw off her coat and gave her jumper without hesitation. (Jesus may you bless her generous heart).

Jesus, thank you that you clothe people in not only love, but dignity too!
Thank you that you clothe us in beauty, instead of ashes, and Your righteousness.


>> This evening, my London Church had a worship night so we worshipped, danced, praised, adored, honoured the King.
Picture from the worship night !