I am determined to complete this 30 Day Writing Challenge, it just may not look the way I intended. For instance, today I completed days 8 - 10 (seen below). I pray these ramblings and insights into me are a blessing. I welcome your comments and feedback and I'm thankful you're a part of my journey.
Day 8 - Share something you struggle with
Whew, it seems that I have fallen behind here. When I saw this post, I thought, WOW! I could really list quite a few things, but I couldn’t think of one that would really be the ‘best’ one to write about.
So here goes. I struggle with finding enough energy to do all the things I want to do vs. all the things I have to do each day. For instance, I truly want to do this 30 day writing challenge. But after a long day of cooking, cleaning and trying really hard to enjoy the evening with my family and not have my phone or computer out, I was too tired to write by the time I was all freed up. The word balance is what we are all seeking so I really lean into what is most important at the time, and I am trying so much to make the shift be to focusing on intentional, undistracted time with my family. And also to get good rest, as that just helps me and everyone around me.
Day 9 - Share some words of wisdom that speak to you
Day 10 - Write about something for which you feel strongly
Goodness, this is a bit like Day 8 - things I struggle with - so many! I feel very strongly about so many things, but if I were to write about one in particular, I guess I’d have to say I feel strongly about standing up for love. This weekend as I merrily celebrated my husband’s birthday and mother’s day, I was also called to pray for the mother’s at the border who have been separated from their children, either by U.S. processes and procedures or by tragedy and violence. I just can’t imagine any of it. I can’t imagine having to flee my home because of fear of death and then losing my child in the country I thought would be able to help me. I can’t imagine the women snuggling up on the floor of tents in dirty refugee camps, praying to God they make it through another night. I can’t imagine not having enough food, water, clothing, and safety items to keep my children from getting the corona-virus.
I went to the border in November 2019 and what I witnessed and saw were families fleeing violence. I met a mother and father who carried their 4 year old and 2 year old on their backs for 2 months to get to our borders. 2 month trip on foot. No one who does this is looking for an easy way out. And as I held this mother and we cried together, because she had made it, she was in the U.S. had just received her paperwork to be admitted into our country and be able to await her immigration hearing with family in another state, we got to pray together and praise the Lord for His provision. She was thanking God that she and her husband made it out alive with the children and that she could count on her husband to help her carry the load, stating she would have never made it without him. We cried, we prayed, knowing that her journey was not over and that her stay in the U.S. for good was not yet guaranteed. Thankful that they could rest for a bit, knowing the horrors of their trip were behind them and that in a few days they would be reunited with family.
It’s for the momma’s that I pray, it’s for the momma’s that I do this work. And speaking of momma's, if you’ve ever seen the Passion of the Christ movie, it shows Jesus’ mother’s pain. And I have long wondered how in the world she shouldered the site of her son hanging from a cross? For the momma's I pray, for their pain, their worry and their struggle.
I feel strongly that our asylum, immigration and refugee laws need to change. I feel strongly that we as a country need to continue to do a lot of work in order to see justice prevail and all human life honored and valued. Both inside and outside our borders. And I pray, until my dying day, that I’m able to do just one more thing to move the needle in that direction. To love as Jesus does.
