I need a change in thinking

I had a girl that was going to work for me over the holidays just as seasonal help. When we hired her she said that she could work "anytime". My instinct said that she wasn't what we were looking for, but I thought I was being too judgmental. We ended up hiring her, but it was a big mistake. She showed up twice, and then just stopped. It started out that there was always something... her child was sick. She was sick. She had to take her daughter to the hospital. Stuff like that. Then she just stopped showing up. By that time I had taken her off the schedule so it wasn't a big deal.
(One of the sad things about this was that I didn't believe her. When you have people working for you, you learn how to read people.)
She finally brought in her keys today (2 months later). She apologized for taking too long (I have been calling her every couple of days for a while now), and claimed that when you've got an abusive husband, it's hard to get away. I didn't know what to say. I just said... "ok, let me get you that number you needed." I walked back to my office and my first reaction was to roll my eyes and judge her. Just because she's been a crappy worker, doesn't mean that she's not being honest about her husband. Where is the ministry that I've been called to? I still think she was probably making up excuses, and I was nice to her, but why is my first reaction to something like that... "liar"?
I don't have the answers to these questions... hopefully insight and change will come soon.