Buy U a Drink

12:13 p.m. Thursday. Your 2 month cutie calls you during your lunch break at work saying, "I miss you. Let me buy you a drink tonight." This guy seems really cool, he makes you laugh, he is a gentleman with street sense, has a decent job, has only 1 kid, loves his momma, and goes to church. Sounds like a keeper, right? There is a hint of mystery about him you are not completely sure about. But, you like him. So, you agree to have drinks at 7:30 p.m.

7:45 p.m. Thursday. You order your Long Island and he orders his Vodka and Cranberry. You sip and talk, and sip and laugh, and sip some more. It takes much more than one drink to make you tipsy, so you sip a little bit more. The conversation is great, as always. Then you excuse yourself to the ladies room. Before you do, cutie notices your drink is low and tells you he will order you another. He is just too sweet. You thank him and walk towards the back of the bar. You return to a fresh Long Island sitting on the counter with your name on it. Before thinking twice, you take a sip and continue with the conversation. After 2 more sips, cutie's words slur as they enter your ear and his face looks fuzzy. In fact, everything starts to get fuzzy. You ate as soon as you left work, so why are you feeling this way?

Black Out....

11:58 p.m. Thursday. The next thing you remember is waking up in cutie's apartment, wearing his clothes, in a bed that is not yours. You wonder what the heck happened and how do you get out of here. Did he take a piece of you that you can never have back?

Little did you know, this seemingly perfect guy was far from wonderful. He uses date rape drugs very often when he doesn't get what he wants when he wants it. It seems you made him "wait" to long for intimacy. He's been plotting on you for 2 weeks now. Yes, you saw signs. That hint of mystery you felt never sat too well with you. He did seem to have a little control issue too. And, you shouldn't have left an unattended drink with him. You know better than that. That is one of the top rules in the dating game you swore by. No matter what, none of these reasons gives the bastard the right to lie and steal and take from you.

Thank God, I got out in time. My Ace knew where I was because I gave her his address. I was non-responsive to all text messages from friends and family due to the black out. Because that is abnormal behavior for me, those same family and friends came looking for me. And they found me before his plans became reality.

I thought this would never happen to me, like most of us think. We are invincible and we would never meet anyone who would want to harm us. We are good people, right? But it did happen.

The beautiful part is God allowed me to live through this experience to have another testimony.

Sure, it was hard to deal with initially. I would play everything over and over in my mind to try to remember what actually happened. But, I couldn't. I never could. I finally came to the point where I stopped trying. I rebuked him from my life for my personal healing and restoration. I learned to accept what happened, to talk about it openly, to forgive myself for trusting him, and to even pray for his soul. Yes, I pray for him because I recognize he is sick. But, I don't communicate with him and I am not trying to save him. Only God can do that.

My advice to all single ladies (and men) is listen to the Holy Spirit at all times. Follow the instincts God has given you that scream something is not right and run like the wind. Don't fall for the charm when you can't trust the person. Don't leave your drink, food or belongings with someone you barely know. God will ALWAYS show you who you are truly dealing with if you take the time to ask, wait and listen for His response.