A season of prayer for Social Justice: Refugees and the plight of so many are on my mind tonight.

Good Evening Dear Family,

As we continue our season of prayer for social justice may we once again take our feet out for a virtual prayer walk that will place us on the road as fellow refugees. The virtual prayer walk comes from an old and pointed blog from last year;

Walking in the footsteps of a refugee

                                    A Guided Meditation and Virtual Prayer Walk

Let us imagine ourselves through the eyes of a refugee and pray along the way.

Imagine you have decided to leave the only home you and your family have ever known.

God I don't want to live in this country where my children and husband and I are having to dodge bullets and face daily fears.  God help us to have courage to leave this war torn city and country and find safety.

Imagine having to carry a loaded in a backpack without any of the usual comfort items.

God I'm not ready to become homeless but in order to find a better life for my family I must. Give me courage to take what I really need for my husband, children and myself.

Imagine the first day on the road by foot. How do your feet feel and what does your body feel like going long distances?

God my feet feel like they have become calloused, blistered, and in a lot of pain. Give us courage to honor our bodies, minds, and spirits when we need to as we flee our country of origin.

Imagine not having enough warmth on these cold nights out in the open.

God help us to find a suitable place of shelter for the night and that we may find warmth.

Imagine meeting up with other refugees and telling your stories and developing a new kind of family.

God we thank you that we have met many of our fellow refugee families and that we finally realize that we are all in this as one big family. God help us to find and make lasting friendships and that we may find safety together.

Imagine being in danger and seeing lawless gangs.

God help us to remain safe and secure and we pray for our enemies and those who wish to do us harm.

Imagine us having to find shelter, clothing, and food everyday on the road and there aren't any refugee camps nearby.

God help us to find shelter, clothing,food everyday. Help us to keep our eyes and ears open to finding refugee camps that are run by compassionate, accepting, loving, and merciful people.

Imagine becoming ill on the road.
God help us to find ways to cope with illness each day that we are not in familiar territory.

Imagine having a loved one die on the road. 

God help us to mourn our loved ones loss on the road and that we may honor their bodies by burying them reverently in the ground. Help us to always to remember to carry white sheets for burial shrouds along the way.

Imagine you have finally reached the refugee camps and are awaiting resettlement. 
God we thank you for finally reaching the camp and we pray that we may have patience to wait our turn to go through the resettlement process.

Imagine the day when you meet your sponsoring family.
God we thank you for our new family. Help us  when it is our turn to welcome the stranger that we may model our lives after you Jesus and remember that you, Mary, and Joseph were refugees too.

Let us pray to the God of Compassion and Love as we add these our prayers tonight!

St. Teresa of Avila Says it best

A few reminders before we pray:

We are called to do this whether we like it or not. We find ourselves in the midst of a broken world that  keeps being visited by violence, terror, disease, hate and the like. The only antidote for this is Love, peace, hope, and joy. mercy, justice, and acceptance of  everyone. We are all vulnerable people  even if we don't recognize it in ourselves. Sometimes and often the most vulnerable family members may become those who hate, kill, maim,, bully, abuse, as a defense mechanism because they themselves have been victimized. Think of  many timid animals who strike out in fear. We all need to help our vulnerable family members to find appropriate responses to fear,bullying,abuse, and the like.This goes back to many blogs about being loving and neighborly to ourselves.  The time is  now, when we must keep our eyes and hearts on and for all of  our most vulnerable family members and  assure them that they are loved , accepted , and aren't alone. We all need to teach our  youngest and oldest family members to Stop Bullying and teach them how to love, accept, nurture, and be kind. This teaching starts at the beginning of life and continues until we breathe our last breath.  God wants us to be loving, kind,and generous to our family members one to another. Tonight we will meditate on stopping hate, bullying, violence, and inequality.  Please take out your timers, mindfulness apps, or music.  Tonight's music is this: John Michael Talbot mix . Take time to go deeper into the center and if you have any  negative thoughts that need to be let go of, this it the time, this is the place.

God of love and compassion help us to be truly loving and that we may protect all those who are being bullied, abused, and hated.

God of love and compassion, encircle this broken and fragile with you love, justice, mercy and light so that there may be peace on the earth.

God of love and compassion, drive away all things that divide us ! May we be one with you O God and stand and live united as one family under the shadow of your wings!

God of love and compassion, give us tender hearts to give comfort and help all those who are in any need or trouble.

God  of Love and compassion, heal all of our family members who are ill in body, mind , or spirit. Give us courage to help them and reach out to them when  our fears and anxieties hold us  back.

God of Love and compassion, we pray for all of our family members who are pre-grieving their loved ones who are transitioning into the Thin Places.

God of  Love and compassion, we pray for all those who live in places of  violence, especially Ferguson, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan , Africa. We pray particularly for the many refugees who have been displaced from their homes and workplaces.

God of Love and Compassion We pray for all who are dying and those who have died today that they had a peaceful and warm journey into the Thin Places. 

God of Love and compassion, We pray that we may become the voices of our voiceless and vulnerable family members.

God of Love and compassion, please shower  upon us the gift of rain to heal and cleanse all drought parched areas of the world and in our country.

God of Love and compassion, we pray for all the leaders of the nations that they may learn to  lead with compassion, justice, and mercy. and that their citizenry may be afforded human and equal rights and that they may respect 

the dignity of  every human being.

God of Love and Compassion, we add our prayers for ourselves and those who have asked to pray on behalf of others ______________.

God of Love and Compassion we offer these prayers in the name of his only Son Jesus, Amen.

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Good Night all! I love you! Have a blessed and restful night. Thank you for being you!

Love,

Sara