Tagged: refugees

If you missed Part One in this series of Stories of the Redeemed, click here. Last week you heard Cecilia Sakatira’s story of how the Master Weaver gave her a new vision and purpose out of a time of darkness and suffering. She is the founder and director of Creative Hands, a ministry that empowers women on the refugee highway in Greece to find gainful employment and learn about the Messiah. This week, read with me as she shares the story of one woman at Creative Hands whose unraveled life is being woven into something new and wonderful.       For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.… Read More

  I met Cecilia Sakatira over twenty years ago. We were both living as foreigners and Christians in a Muslim culture, she from Zimbabwe, I from the United States. We were both strong women with a desire to rescue the rejected and bring hope to those in despair. I worked with shamed families whose babies had been born with facial deformities and she worked with street children abandoned and addicted to glue. We met at a prayer meeting. The Lord formed an immediate bond between us, a friendship that has grown in steady strength and prayerful purpose over the years. I stand as a witness to God’s great story in Cecilia’s life, and it is my privilege to let her tell her story today.  … Read More

Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ’See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’”  Isaiah 62:10-11 Roads transform nations. I have lived in countries with little more than sandy ruts between tiny villages, and others with elaborate highway systems connecting glittering cities. Roads change the world and how we live in it.  In many cases, the ones who built the roads we enjoy were hired laborers, people of small status yet great strength. We don’t think much about them as we speed along in our cars, enjoying the… Read More

You did it again! You went ahead of me. I thought I was a messenger, Sent to tell them about You.   But You had already come; Prepared hearts— Expectant, Hopeful.   He looked at me And said, I feel like I’ve met you before. Like I’ve known you a very long time.   As we read Your Words together, Spoke of mutual pain And the comfort You give, He remembered.   I felt this way in a dream once.   Silently awestruck— Weeping Tears of Joy, Listening as he described   How You came.   Dressed in white (Every story is the same!) You appeared, Laid Your hand upon the shoulder   Of a broken-hearted father.   Comfort Peace Healing Hope.   I woke… Read More

To all the little boys and their families seeking refuge across the world today. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.  Psalm 113: 7   The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the… Read More

After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.” Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod died. Matthew 2:13-15 Today my friend shared the story of one of his language students, a woman from South Sudan who is running for her life. Married as an adolescent to a man more than twice her age, she understood from a young age that her primary role was to bring honor to her family.… Read More

God seeks what has been driven away. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hagar was driven away from her home (see Genesis 16). Her name, Hagar, carries the root in both Hebrew and Arabic that means to flee. For Christians, Muslims, and Jews, she has become a symbol of fleeing. Some might call her the mother of refugees. The God Who Seeks Those Driven Away pursued Hagar in the desert. Alone with her child, destitute, she believed death was imminent. How astonished she must have been to hear the voice of the Seeker, seeking her out, speaking wonderful words of hope and a future. Hagar, a bondwoman to God’s chosen family, was given the high privilege of naming God. She was the first person to give Him a new… Read More

[caption id="attachment_3700" align="aligncenter" width="596"] For my mother-in-love, a Master Gardener who taught me the fruitful practice of hard pruning.[/caption] I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful (John 15:1-2). Well, it seems we are all going to have a holly, jolly, pruning Christmas. The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines pruning in various degrees: trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth. cut away (a branch or stem). reduce the extent of (something) by removing superfluous or unwanted parts. December is a bit… Read More