Jesusluvsall's Blog

Over the past 18 years I have met people from all over the world. Some have been fun friendships such as my friends from Brazil. Such friendships are mostly meeting to help with knowing things about Lincoln and helping with English while also learning about their culture.

But some people I have met have stories that when one hears them, it can rip your heart into pieces. These friendships cause me to draw from Jesus in prayer, so I can show them love and friendship and not be completely drained.

Some stories stay with me such as a woman I met from Afghanistan who struggles with PTSD because she saw loved ones killed in front of her and then she had to go over the mountains into a neighboring country to go to the refugee camp with her two year old in her arms and other children beside her.

I have visited Yazidi refugees in their homes and listened to them share about back home as they show me pictures of their homes in Iraq and of family and friends. When they look down and can’t say anything, I understand it is because the family member or friend was killed by the terrorists.

I have met young men from Sudan who were missing part of or all of an arm because when the government troops came they grabbed the young man, when he was a boy, a cut off part of or all of his arm so he could not fight against them when they were older.

There is such darkness in the world. Jesus said of Satan, “The thief comes to rob, kill and destroy.” I have met many victims of torture and survivors of genocides over the years.

Jesus has called me to be a light in the darkness. That comes in different forms in the lives of people I meet. Sometimes it is helping them as a friend with their new lives in America. Being a light also means in my classes when I encourage my students and treat them with dignity. I will never forget when I heard my Yazidi friends were labeled as less than human by the terrorists as a ‘justification’ for the genocide. My desire is for every refugee I meet to feel that I treat them with the dignity they deserve as human beings created by God.

I love what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” I have not been around the perpetrators of the hate my refugee friends have endured, but my hope is through my friendship with them that it can help to bring light into their lives and that they feel they are loved. In other words help drive out what the darkness and hate did to them. Most of their physical scars can never heal, but perhaps their emotional and psychological ones can heal over time if they are shown love.

Jesus did not stop with saying what Satan wanted to do, he finished it by saying, “But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus wants to give life, healing, peace in our hearts, and much more. My hope is to show that through practical ways  to my refugee friends who are victims of some of the worst horrors in this world.

This is Day 2 of the 3 Day Quote Challenge that Amy Blount of A New Life blog nominated me for. Thank you Amy.

To the challenge…The rules are as follows:

• Thank the person who nominated you.
• Post a quote on 3 consecutive days.
• Share why this quote appeals so much to you.
• Nominate 3 different bloggers for each day.

I would like to reach across the pond and nominate a blog I enjoy by a young woman who has overcome a lot of adversity and shares encouragement joypassiondesire

Thank you for reading today. I hope you have a blessed day.