Friends, you have amazed me.
You opened your hearts, closets, and pocketbooks, and you lovingly gave the gifts of dignity, safety, comfort, love. I’m no crier… In fact, I’ve been accused of being “heartless,” but many times in the last few weeks, you’ve brought tears to my eyes. Partly because you’ve been generous beyond my wildest dreams, and partly because I’m ashamed that I lacked faith in you, my friends, to answer my plea.
My Somali family arrives Monday and will be greeted with a full pantry and stocked home. Aside from their names, ages, English proficiency level, clan and religion, I know nothing about them. You, my friends, know even less than I do. But still, you gave.
You never asked me if they shared your religious beliefs. Or skin color. Or political views. You didn’t need to know if they’re from a corner of our world that scares you. You simply heard a plea and answered it, recognizing that some of God’s people are in need of help. Friends, you remembered that even in our current global political hot mess, that we are all created in God’s image and all deserving of the simplest of gifts- dignity, humanity and love among them. Healing our lost and broken world starts with something so simple as loving each other, and you helped me do just that. Regardless of all else, as these refugees build their new lives, you helped me to show them that the Americans, the Christians, the strangers who sometimes fear them are also the people who came together with the love and compassion of Christ and helped them start a new life.
I hope to be able to tell you more about my new friends. For now, I want to honor their privacy and hold off on publicly sharing any further personal details about them until I know they’re comfortable with it. But know that even in my silence, even in their wish for privacy, you have changed their lives and mine with your generosity.
Thank you. Really, from the depths of my heart, thank you.
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