This Thursday as I prepared to receive and greet the ladies and preschoolers who attend our American Life and Language classes, I met an early arrival at the door.  She is one of our regular students and comes from Congo originally.  French is her language and it is really fun for me to practice my French with her.  Most of the refugees I know do not speak French and we have a different kind of fun communicating with each other.  But this particular lady and I have had many opportunities to converse in French in class and as I have visited her home.  One miracle in this story is that we actually understand each other pretty well even though my French is entirely learned in American schools and she is completely uneducated in her own language.  Every now and then I have to ask her to slow down because she runs away with words and I completely lose the topic of conversation.  That makes us laugh.

This lady has been trying for some time to bring her two adult sons to America under the family reunification program.  We were discussing that effort when I learned that she had been watching the news a lot and crying because she fears that her sons may be again caught up in war in Africa. Can you for even one moment put yourself in this mother’s place?  Can you imagine the fear, pain and heartache she must be feeling?  Upon hearing this, I told her I would pray for her and her family, and then asked her if we could do that right now.  So at that moment my Muslim friend and I bowed our heads and prayed together.  I prayed over her asking God to calm her heart, protect her sons and reunite her family.  I almost prayed in French – which would have been a first for me –  but I am so used to talking to God in English that French seemed awkward at that moment.  I think my refugee friend understood a lot of my prayer and at the end of the prayer, she said Amen along with me.  Will you please join me in praying for this mother and her family who have experienced so much pain, fear and loss in their lives?  You may not know her name, but now you know her need, and God certainly knows who she is.