Vulnerability

This theme has been on my mind lately due to different circumstances. What makes abortion so horrible to so many people is that tiny, vulnerable babies are killed by the very people who should be protecting them.

I keep thinking of the Old Testament’s command to protect the widow, orphans, and the strangers and I believe it is because of their vulnerability that the protection becomes even more important.

My work within the immigrant community has revealed to me just how vulnerable the stranger is in their new land and why God commanded His people protect them. I have people come to me with their bank statements, social security information, medical information, Government correspondence to translate for them. I always feel humbled enough that they trust me, and at the same time, I am filled with fear for them because all it takes is one person with bad intentions to exploit them. And these people are for the most part those WITH legal documents. Imagine what happens to those without documents.

Recently a woman asked me to translate some papers for her that her fiance wanted her to sign. They were all in English. She didn’t want to sign something she couldn’t understand so she brought them to me. He had told her that it was to ensure that they would never divorce and would be a “marriage contract.” As I translated these papers, it soon became clear that these were not legal papers at all and that the man was making plans to isolate her and then abuse her. As I read out loud what the papers said we both were filled with horror. She was so grateful that she had had them translated and to understand how little she knew about her English speaking American fiance. We are in the process of finding her safe haven with the Domestic Violence shelter (who, praise God, have Spanish speaking counselors there).

On Friday, a new refugee family arrives to their new home in Alaska. They arrive with only the clothes on their bodies and that is all. I have spent the last week collecting donations from giving individuals and readying their new apartment, but I cannot stop thinking about what it must be like for them to leave their home country for a new home, new language, new culture, new everything. They have no idea until Friday where they are headed. They are 100% at the mercy of what God has planned for them via the different agencies making it possible for them to arrive.

When we speak about immigrants (all immigrants), let us have mercy on them knowing that it is ONLY by God’s grace that we are not in the same vulnerable place as them. Knowing that we are not at someone else’s complete mercy.