God’s Way, My Joy

I have spent the better part of thirty years serving immigrants, including refugees, in Kazakhstan, Turkey, and the US. My work has made me thank God for the freedom we enjoy in this country. 

For many wonderful years, we (outsiders) served as global workers in Kazakhstan. People from numerous nations, including African immigrants and gypsies came to the church we planted in this former Soviet republic. 

Later, we lived in Turkey. Some Iranians and many who were fleeing from ISIS in Syria and Iraq found the church we led there. 

Now that we pastor in the United States (our country), people from all over the world attend our church’s ESL program. 

We hear very graphic stories from the wars that push refugees away from their homes to places of greater safety. We opened our home for a few weeks to a family who had fled ISIS after some of their own had been killed and even beheaded. 

We have listened to accounts of long journeys on foot in all weather conditions, of treacherous travels in over-crowded boats, where desperate voyagers watched as other boats capsized and people drowned. One man had been put in Assad’s prison just because he had played a song critical of the regime; sadly, he was raped in that prison. His only choices were to stay there, fight with Assad’s military, or join ISIS. So he fled.

The things our ESL students here in the US tell us are strikingly similar.  What invariably stands out is these friends’ incredible resilience and gratefulness. Of all we've met, only one or two ever needed financial aid; to be fair, one was an uneducated, twice-widowed Afghan mother of three. The rest have been hard-working, sometimes carrying multiple jobs.  They pay taxes, generally have strong family values and morals, and generously share out of their own poverty. They honor people, and they become model neighbors. 

God has created every single one of them (and us) in His image. Romans 5:8 reminds us that, without distinction, He loved us all so much that “while we were yet sinners, He died for us.”   

Knowing immigrants has immensely enriched my life, whether they live among us in search of better lives or have fled wars and crises in their homelands. I can’t imagine how boring it would be without them and their amazing foods, music, and cultures. Most importantly, they become dear friends. 

I love that the whole Bible is a story of people's movements. Acts 17:26-27 reminds us that from one man, God made every nation of humans to inhabit the earth. He determined where and when they would live so that people could seek and find Him.  

People movements are one way God lovingly spreads His Good News, and we get to participate in His mission! In my country, just like everywhere we have lived, God prioritizes people, not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9) but that all might have eternal life (2 Timothy 2:4).