In the coming weeks and months, the United States is expected to place 37,000 Afghans into communities across 46 states in America. You may breathe a sigh of relief for these refugees who appear to be finally entering into a place of comfort and rest after desperately fleeing the Taliban, but as one unimaginably difficult journey ends, another begins. Afghans have been fighting for safety for their families and futures, and this choice comes with a deep loss of the past.

While there is physical freedom from the turbulent atmosphere of Afghanistan, this comfort does not extend to the cultural differences, language barriers, unplanned transitions, unemployment, physical and emotional losses, and unimaginable uncertainties that are now realities for every refugee entering America. Afghans in positions of high command are leaving behind their authorities as they enter humbly into a new nation. Women are leaving behind familiar homes that they have used to provide for their families, and now they will learn to establish new places of comfort.

We might not know how to respond to loss like this if we have never personally been in the circumstances to flee from everything we have while vulnerably entering somewhere new with empty hands. However, we can turn to someone who is familiar with this kind of suffering. No one is more familiar than Jesus is with suffering of all kinds. Even if we haven’t been in the place of our Afghan neighbors, He has, and He has shown us how to love them in their vulnerable places. Jesus may be nearer to them now than ever before.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-30).

How much more personal does our Savior seem to them now that they seek a comfort He has to offer and face burdens that He carries?

Thirty-seven thousand is a large number. It can be overwhelming to even picture that many people at once. We need to be careful not to consume ourselves so much with the 37,000 incoming Afghans that we neglect the one Afghan that we pass at the grocery store. We often feel the pressure to save all eight billion people in the world, but we should be more focused on who God has already placed in our paths. God is creating new pathways for us to love on His Afghan children. A journey of 7,500 miles has shortened to a walk down the street to simply say hello and be a friendly face. The vulnerabilities that our new neighbors cannot escape allows our simple acts of love to reach deeply into their searching hearts.

Here is a resource for where Afghans are expected to resettle in America: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghan-refugees-resettled-by-state/