The Story of Amy: How God Redeemed One Child’s Pain (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this story, we watched Amy grow from a scared child abused by her stepfather to a young lady of 16 who knows how to express an opinion. After a particularly bad episode, she convinced her mom they needed to leave the abusive Pablo. They opened the door to go grocery shopping and found policemen and FBI agents standing outside. 

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The authorities said they were looking for Pablo, and when Sandra told them he was gone, they took her instead. “Maybe if we take you to jail, he will follow to look for you,” they said. Amy was left alone with her four siblings, the youngest only 2 years old. Outside—on the roof, in the streets, everywhere—policemen and FBI agents waited and watched.

One armed policeman stayed inside to guard the children. “I feel so bad for you,” he told Amy. “The man that was your stepfather was not a good man.” He told them their phone was tapped and they would not be allowed to leave until her stepfather was captured. 

She learned later that Pablo was part of a ring of wealthy businessmen who worked as doctors and other high-end positions in Guatemala while using their connections to steal cars from America. The wives and children of these doctors had been friends and playmates of Amy, her mom, and her siblings. Her mother, during her period of confinement, was forced to go to their houses as if she were visiting and knock on the door so FBI agents could swoop in to arrest them. 

Meanwhile, not knowing where to turn for help, Amy called her aunt and uncle who were Christians, the ones who were always inviting Amy’s family to church. 

“We’ll come and get you out,” Amy’s aunt told her.

“The police said they won’t let us out. There’s no food here, and I don’t have anything to give the children. I don’t know what to do,” Amy said. 

Her aunt asked if they could bring food. The policeman who was guarding the children said they could, but they wouldn’t be allowed to leave again. 

So her aunt came with groceries. “We’ll stay here tonight,” she said, “but tomorrow we’re going to leave.”

“Aunt, what are you thinking?” Amy asked. “They’re not going to let us leave. It’s not going to happen.”

“It is going to happen,” she said. “We’re praying, the church is praying, and you will make it out.”

Amy was very scared, but her aunt prayed with her and said she should pack what was most important in preparation for the next day. Then she talked to the guard. “These kids need to leave,” she told him. “This is not healthy for them.”

He said he would leave the house the following day for lunch, and they could try to leave at that time. However, he said, the house was surrounded by guards and likely someone else would pick them up. 

True to his word, the policeman left at lunchtime the next day. Amy, her aunt, and the younger ones walked out the door of their house, carrying their bundles. The guards were there, in plain view as they walked down the street—but not one guard noticed them. “It’s a miracle,” Amy told her aunt. 

Going to her aunt and uncle’s house was like entering a wonderful haven. Her uncle was a pastor and a godly man. Amy and her siblings went to church with their uncle and aunt, and it was there Amy came to know Jesus. 

The church brothers and sisters gathered around to pray for Amy, and that day the Lord gave her, through one of his children, a special word from Psalm 27:10: “When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” That verse stuck with Amy the rest of her life. She knew in that moment God was really speaking and would do something beautiful. 

The next several weeks were precious to her. Often with the church youth, she would go out into the city to share the gospel. They would witness in the park or go to the jail and witness to the inmates, sharing their testimonies and telling everyone that Jesus is Savior. On the day Amy was baptized, she spoke in tongues, a beautiful language of communion with the Lord that she has often used since in her private times of worship and fellowship. She remembers her baptism as a day of tears. She cried and cried the entire day….but the tears were healing tears. 

Amy and her aunt went to visit Amy’s mom in jail. Amy took her Bible along. “Mom,” she said, “I have something to tell you. I have come to know Jesus in my life. Look.” And Amy showed her the Bible. 

“I have something to tell you, too,” Sandra said. “I came to know Jesus here in jail.” And she showed Amy her Bible, which the Christians who came to the jail had given her. 

Amy’s siblings, all except the youngest, also came to know the Lord over this time. The entire church prayed for Amy’s mom. Her aunt consulted a Christian lawyer who told them it was a difficult case. Sandra had a chance to get out of jail during the first 19 days, but if she didn’t get out in that time, she would have to stay in jail for 4 years. The church prayed, and on day 19—not a day before or a day later—Sandra was released. The whole church rejoiced. 

Amy’s uncle encouraged her mother to leave for the States. “God can help you over there,” he said. They started selling some of her mother’s most expensive items to fund the move. However, legally, Sandra was not supposed to leave the country. That had been one of the conditions of her release. 

Amy’s mother and her aunt and uncle hatched a plan for Sandra to go through airport security while a certain friend was at the gate who would let her through. Amy flew on a separate plane so as not to arouse suspicion of her mother’s intent, since Amy was an American citizen. But when Sandra got to security, the friend wasn’t there, and she was denied boarding.

“It’s too difficult,” he said later.

Amy was already in Miami, staying with a single aunt while she waited for the rest of her family. The situation seemed impossible, but through a strange turn of events, Pablo offered to help. He had been back to visit several times, asking to see his children, though none of them wanted to see him. Now he took Sandra and the children to El Salvador, put them on a plane and flew them to the U.S, his connections and an appropriate amount of money slipped into the appropriate hands making all the difference. 

In the U.S, Sandra found an apartment near her brother and his Cuban wife. “Please don’t tell Pablo where we are,” she said…but in spite of her, her brother told him. Pablo appeared a few weeks later, and Amy was devastated. That evening, when she saw him lift his hand to hit her mom, she spoke up loud. “Listen! Here in the United States you have no say-so. I’m an American citizen. You put one finger on my mom, and I will deport you right now!” 

That stopped him. The next day while he was gone, Amy’s single aunt and a wealthy couple she worked for loaded up the family’s belongings and took them to a different apartment, without telling Amy’s uncle or stepfather what they were doing. A Christian church in Miami had promised to help them, but that first night, they had no heat and no beds in the cold winter weather. Amy and her mom managed to tuck the children into the luggage so they could get enough warmth to sleep. 

The next day, church people brought them some needed items, and they were able to start a new life, away from Pablo. They worked hard, Amy’s mom at cleaning jobs and Amy at numerous eating places: Burger King, McDonalds, Baskin Robbins. She was going to school at the same time and found herself so sleepy, school became incredibly difficult. 

They learned to depend on God through those difficult years. At one point, the refrigerator was completely empty and they had no money to pay rent. Amy remembered a story she had heard of God’s provision. “Mom, let’s just pray,” she said. “God is going to provide.” 

So they did. “Lord, we know you brought us to the United States, and we know you can provide because that is your way.”

Not too long after their prayer, the wealthy woman who had helped them move stopped by. “I was thinking so much about you today,” she said, “and I was on my way to do something and just thought I’d get you this.” She carried in bags and bags and bags of food. And then she said, “Here, Sandra,” and gave them money—plenty enough to pay the rent. 

“God was showing us we can trust him,” Amy says now. Similar stories happened many times, building their trust in a Provider. 

Times got easier. Some of the younger ones grew older and got their own jobs. And one day Amy met a young Christian man, the manager in the Ponderosa restaurant where she worked, who didn’t take no for an answer….but that is the subject of a different story. 

Today, Amy is happily married. God has blessed her and her husband with three children, a daughter-in-law, and a granddaughter. She and her husband are also licensed foster parents who took one special child into their home for six months. In the future, God may call them to more. Amy works with a church group to prevent abortions, offering lonely or desperate young mothers the services, support, and counseling they need to keep their babies or place them for adoption. 

In addition, she volunteers as an advocate of children with Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA. She works with children who have been put into foster care, acting as a link between a displaced child and the legal system. She enters foster homes, talks to biological parents, and becomes the hands, ears, and eyes that report to the courts where the child will receive the most loving care and stable environment. It is a job that brings her full circle, where she can use some of her own childhood hardships to understand a hurting child’s needs and perspectives.

Amy looks back on the suffering of her past with joy, seeing how God has redeemed her pain for good. Though her life still carries difficulties and disappointments, seeing his work in the past gives her hope for the future. She desires to serve God however He wants to use her but especially, she says, “my heart goes to hurting women and girls.” 

She says to you, the reader of this story: “We have a great God. No matter where we’re from, whatever our culture or background, God has come to save us.” Though we all suffer, we don’t have to stay in that place of suffering. Whatever difficulties people face, Amy says, “their problems will be resolved by coming to know Jesus.” 

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In the story above, names have been changed to protect privacy. The story joins a series of posts I call In Every Life a Story. I publish a new post in this series every 6 -10 weeks. Do you have a story or know of someone who has a story to encourage and inspire others? Contact me at lucindajkinsinger@gmail.com. Although many stories will feature Christian themes, I hope to hear from people of many faiths and persuasions. Whoever you are, please get in touch.