Let's call her Kayla

Everyone has a story. Some stories break your heart. Some encourage and inspire you. Some send you to your knees in prayer.

We'll call this the yet-to-be-finished story of "Kayla."

She recently moved and changed schools. She's in seventh grade at one of the largest middle schools in the city - a school known for gangs, overcrowding and a leaky roof (but also great test scores).

Sometimes she walks home after school - more than two miles - to avoid the bus trouble.

A tear-stained face and a red welp on her cheek is how she arrived at the mission after school on Thursday.

After hugs and assurances, she began to talk. She wept about the girl who hit her on the bus. She wept about the girls who harass her continually at school. She wept about the boys at school who call her ugly and stupid.

But through her tears, her voice was strong as she said, "I tell them that I am not at that school for boyfriends. I am there for my education!"

Please pray for this precious child who is beautiful inside and out. God knows her real name and has plans to give her hope and a future. Pray for her to keep her resolve about her education and to know how special she is to God! Pray for her safety if she does walk home over heavily-trafficked streets in not so safe neighborhoods. Pray for her home life so that she is safe there, and pray for her siblings and her young mother.

Thanks.