Spare a thought....

I'm warm and cosy and enjoying a little Rest and Relaxation this weekend before the mad socialising and gift receiving and giving with friends and rellies over the next few days - which I love. I had one of the most enjoyable evenings for a couple of months last night with a good friend, going to the movies to see the ultimate chick flick "The Holiday" and then on to one of those only-very-loosely planned meet up with friends for chat, some drinks and throwing shapes on the dance floor till the wee small hours. Made more enjoyable for my friend and I in that we didn't really know what would happen before we went out.

The arrival of small children (no matter how much they made you coo in the movie, Ms X!) rather steals spontaneity and it is refreshing to embrace it again!

Tonight I can't help my thoughts turning towards a woman I know; whose appeal to stay in the UK has been overturned and who is now literally facing a knock at the door to be bundled away into a van, taken to a London airport and deported. She described how depressed she feels; how she is burning food when she cooks (because she goes into a shock-like state) and her young child has to shake her to turn the gas off. She was able to say for the first time that she cries all the time. I worry for her this Christmas. All I could do was hold her and cry with her for I don't know what the future holds. I can't make false promises to her; to say that she will surely be able to stay in the UK; all I can promise her is that God is with her and WON'T abandon her. She and not me knows what it is like to take your family and flee from persecution; just like Mary, Jospeh and Jesus did.

Dear God; what a mess we have in this world. Is it too simplistic to long for all the wrongs in this world to be put right and for the hope of the new Jerusalem where people from every nation,tribe and tongue can be together without fear and in safety?

Please pray for her and her child this week if you can. Thank you.