Casting Pearls and praying for swine

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. " Matthew 7:6

A brief understanding of this passage is explained on biblegateway.com as such:

"The famous saying about "pearls before swine" has its origins in this passage; Jesus tells his followers not to waste spiritual resources on people who will never understand or appreciate them."

It's funny sometimes how God chooses to elicit a more "hands on" approach to understanding the words that he shares with us in His great book, and this experience was certainly one of those moments.
For some reason, I never quite understood the context of this verse and while it seems pretty straightforward, I none-the-less have often stumbled over the verse and just kept reading oblivious to the underlying depth.
Pastor Billy was my connection to clarity in a situation that had provoked both my desire to help someone in a desperate situation and my fear of getting into something far greater than I could handle. While I had only met him a few times before, I felt completely comfortable with him as well as his assistant. I am not one for small talk when something is on my heart and I wasted no time in explaining the situation I found myself in and that I needed to discern what it was that God wanted me to do. I also explained the sense of foreboding that my husband felt as the story of the family unfolded and that this very family had been members of his congregation as well. At that point, he asked me if his assistant could join our meeting, as she knows everything about everyone and would be able to give me the history of this family that I knew so little about.
I learned that their problems had a deep and rich history of abuse, greed, debauchery and a myriad of other dysfunctions. I learned that people before me had tried to help and that ultimately the only thing that changed was the people/person who were trying to help them.
Billy was quick to emphasize that I should heed my husbands instincts. Not only was I reminded that my husband is the head of the household, but that God had used him as an avenue to give me pause before I charged forward in my attempts to do what I thought God was calling me to do. That was the moment when I was reminded that yielding to God is is just as important as serving Him. Actually, more important. How can I serve His kingdom best if I am pursuing my own agenda of what I think God wants when He sees the whole picture and KNOWS what He wants.
Billy shared with me many more words of wisdom before we prayed and parted ways, and as I walked out of the church, I felt both sad and relieved at the same time. I wanted to save this woman from the chains that life had wrapped around her, but also had to reconcile with the reality that while her circumstances were dire, her own choices played a large part of where she was in life.
Later that evening, my husband and I were able to sit down and talk about my meeting and what our next move should be. We decided that we would go her house together to collect the money she owed me and leave with her the information she needed should she want to make a change. It allowed us to still help her and yet not enable her.
Roughly six weeks later, I sit here and reflect upon that journey, knowing that most likely nothing in her life has changed. The air conditioner that I bought her was either stolen or sold not even a week after I delivered it. I have fully removed myself from the situation except in prayer. I am never sure what to pray for them, but I ask the holy spirit daily to intercede on my behalf.
Hearts can always be unhardened, miracles can happen and fundamentally prayer is where great seeds can be sown. So, while I have intimately learned that I must not cast pearls before swine, I have also been reminded that the gift of prayer is always mine to give.