April 2018 Newsletter

About 10 years ago, I was pretty emotionally exhausted as I nonstopped pushed forward to assist the many people that I met who were in truly challenging situations. One after another, I would see people in our city (Memphis) that were war torn with physical evidence of escaping for their lives the violence and persecutions in their home countries. The prescious people that I met were among women and children but also young and old men. Their stories and personalities grabbed my heart and my heart has never been the same. Exhausted with complete compassion and love, I one day wanted to quit trying to assist the people. The amount of help the people needed was just too much for me to really comprehend and the challenges they faced was simply too much for me to feel like I could even make a real difference. I remember falling on the ground with a broken heart surrendering all these people I was carrying in my heart to God. I cried and cried and prayed to God to help them and to leave me out of it. I just did not see how I could emotionally do what I was doing anymore. I then heard God whisper to me…”Jamie, I did not ask you to DO all this yourself. Enlist the help of other believers.” And so, I obeyed.

Asha’s Refuge developed out of my heart to gather believers together to help those newcomers who truly needed a helping hand to move through various systems in their new home country. America had in a sense “adopted” people from all over the world but desperately needed additional community support. The Lord showed me early NOT to get in to all the “why’s” and “how’s” and “if’s” with refugee services, but to treat each person that was in front of me with respect and love just as Jesus would. Asha’s Refuge does not take government funding. Asha’s Refuge completely runs itself through donor and volunteer support with financial contributions from “like-minded” individuals, foundations, churches, businesses and organizations. This is a true testimony of how God works through people who come together to serve one another. People ask us all the time, “Where does your financial support come from?” We can honestly tell them, “God provides for us; He never fails to work through His people to help support us.”

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