It was an eye opener for two first responders with Knox County Rural Metro in Tennessee, when they learned that along with knowledge of medical issues and trauma treatment, compassion was very much needed for the community.
Senior pastor at Clear Springs Baptist Church in Corryton, Tenn., Justin Pratt, recalls the incident that impacted his life recently, he had just grabbed a bite to eat after church on Sunday when he noticed a van speeding out of a shopping center’s parking lot. He spotted a woman sitting there, sobbing and in clear distress.
In a Facebook post written by Pratt, he says, he wanted to leave initially, but “Something in my spirit told me to go back,” he added, “She shared that she had been verbally abused and kicked out of her home. I asked her if we could call the police or anything and she begged me not to.”
He then asked the if first responders from the nearby Rural Metro Fire Station No. 34, could come and assist him as he was concerned for her health.
First responders/EMTs Blake Sexton and Grant Hickman, who had just returned from a busy call day, answered the call and reached the spot.
The woman did not want to go to the hospital, and the woman did not want to leave her. “Is there anything we can do for you before we leave, and she said ‘I just need some prayer,'” Hickman said.
“What happened next stirred me and lit my fire. These [two firefighters] instantly, at that very moment, in the middle of a crowded parking lot followed her requests and prayed for her on the spot… just stopped and done it immediately,” Pratt shared.
“I led us in a word of prayer, and from her emotional expressions… you could tell that doing that for her was more than anything medically we could have given her,” Hickman told the outlet. “You could tell that doing that for her was more than anything medically we could have given her.”
The story behind the picture, you gotta read it:
I love Knoxville. I love living in Knoxville. I love raising my kids…
Posted by Justin Pratt on Sunday, April 7, 2019
Pratt added that the woman wanted to stay with her brother till she could be settled, but he said, that the woman believes God put those first responders there for her.
Pratt said that the first responders reaction to the woman was “compassion at its finest.”