A final story of 2025.

Every single woman that walks through our doors leaves an impression on our team, but some more than others. This is one of those others… especially since she technically never walked through our physical doors.

Evana (not her real name) first reached through our Request for Help form and shared that she was in an extremely unsafe situation. She had no job, no transportation, no financial resources, and no hope for a plan. While 431 is not a crisis organization, we are a Fill the Gap organization, which means that this level of unsafeness gets our top attention. Evana admitted that she did have a hidden phone, which meant that our team could do coaching over the phone to begin to restore her safety. In situations like hers, this is critical, so a planned, non-emotional approach to leaving can be taken and safety measures put into place.

So, with our help, over several calls and almost a month, a plan was outlined, resources identified, and a safety contingency plan put in place. When all the pieces were put into place, she was ready, and transportation by our team was arranged to pick her up and bring her to a safe house who would help her take the next steps.

And then God stepped in.

What we didn’t know about Evana was that she was “not a religious person.” Our conversations, coaching, and plan-making was all centered around Re:Storing her Future first, and she had said yes to us praying over the situation without further comment.

But as time marched along and plans got closer, Evana got nervous. So she tried praying and asked “someone” to keep everything safe, smooth, and happening. And less than three hours after that prayer, she found out that her husband had a medical emergency that landed him in the hospital. He would now be out of the house for an undetermined amount of time, and Evana could leave safely.

Evana was stunned, and when our next scheduled call happened, repeated over and over again, “I just don’t understand, it’s almost unbelievable.” It made perfect sense to our team… she had prayed, and He had answered. But this was new to her, and she had never been taught about Jesus, His sacrifice or that anyone cared about her. So to our team’s great delight, we got to have the BEST kind of “Re:Stored Future” conversation, and Evana made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. “I feel…lighter,” she marveled, and our team couldn’t stop the tears.

Evana was picked up by our team to be moved to the safe house. In the car, she said something that would resonate with most of our clients: "[I realized] I'm not to old to change my life for something better; I can still be somebody."

After a couple months, we followed up with her and she shared:

“At times I still feel overwhelmed by the gravity of how things were. I do feel I am processing everything and I am very happy and at peace with leaving and have absolutely zero regrets… Thank you so very much for knowing about this shelter and helping me get into here… For me personally I believe this is the place that I will succeed at. I feel comfortable and at ease here. Thank you, 431 Ministries, and the entire staff there for answering my email that day, the kindness and grace you all showed me and the help to get out. I can't thank you all enough.”

For our team, this is why we do what we do.

If you didn’t know, 431’s name partially comes from Exodus 4:31: "And the people believed. When they heard that the Lord had seen their misery and cared about them, they bowed down and worshipped."

Evana needed to know that someone saw her misery and cared, and we were able to show her that. But it was the Lord meeting her Himself–in her misery, in her hopelessness, answering a prayer in a way that was undeniable–that made her bow down and worship.

To have these opportunities to share the gospel, while meeting real and practical needs… this is why our team continues on in the hardest of situations. Because regardless of what these women do for the next 3 days, 5 months, or 10 years after working with us, it is their ultimate future that we are concerned about.

We know that this season and the steps they are taking with our team are the the training ground for the next one. And we want them to be ready for that Future.