Offer hand of support to Norfolk refugees plea
 Norwich street chaplain Carrie Sant issues a Christmas plea for Christians to reach out to the strangers amongst us and offer them a helping hand.
Whatever this year has held for you, God loves you and has a purpose for your life! Sometimes His ways are tough and we cannot understand why He takes us through difficult times but then it all changes and just for a bit, he turns the tapestry over and gives us a glimpse of the pattern that He is busy creating.
2010 has been just such a time for me, it has made sense of so much of the difficult times in my life and He has brought me out into a wide and fruitful place, to such an extent that I am really totally gob-smacked! I constantly find myself astounded by the way He works, always at least one step ahead and mostly more.
There have been some real changes to the way I think too. God has led me to look afresh at how He wants us to live. Christianity is not a system of belief but rather a way of life. Even in the Old Testament it was not what Abraham believed that was counted him as righteousness but that His actions demonstrated the level of trust that he had in God – believing God meant living and acting as though he believed and trusted God .(James 2.v 21-24)
I am experiencing God’s call to put my life on the line more and more. Emotionally, financially, to trust God with my reputation to open up areas of my life to others in such a way that I am no longer able to protect myself but rather am challenged to trust Him to protect me.
I have spent time with and heard the stories of people who are struggling with addiction, loneliness, isolation. I have sat and listened to young refugees who have watched family members assassinated in front of them, who have experienced torture and hunger. 16-25 year olds who have an amazing grasp of the goodness of God in spite of what they have suffered - smiling, appreciative, loving, open-hearted, struggling to learn yet another language and make a new life in a strange culture. If you are searching for an encounter with Jesus, this, my friend, is where you will find Him and believe me, you will never be the same again. Have you ever considered being a missionary? You are needed now, right here in Norwich.
 Asylum seekers who have spent long years waiting for a decision about their futures only to face being deported back to the death threats and persecution they escaped a decade ago. I look into the face of one such young mother and I know that Jesus would want us to pray for her but also to embrace her comfort and hold her.
Treasures out of darkness and fashioned in the furnace of affliction, have so much to teach us. Will I open my heart, my home? Will I live sacrificially on the edge? Will I speak against injustice? Will I share a meal? Or will I scurry to the relative safety of my own four walls and close my eyes? Be fed! Be warmed! Be clothed! Be Housed! Be loved and befriended! It’s not my problem.
There is an enormous joy to be had in just giving ourselves to God to be used as He wills. When the disciples let down the nets at His command the nets did not break.
Jesus is returning, not for a church with a perfected system of belief but a church who have truly become His hands, His feet, His voice. A church which reaches out in love, with His heart. His Bride perfected, without spot or wrinkle.
I believe that God has sent potential labourers into his harvest field here in Norwich but many of them are battered, wounded and traumatized. We must rise and embrace them, bind up the broken-hearted and take them to our hearts - and I don't mean try to take them to our church!
Would you or your family befriend a refugee family? Government cuts have taken the support originally planned and those who came with such hope and optimism, risk becoming disillusioned, hurt and angry as they struggle to survive, keep warm, fill forms, get to appointments and learn every skill they can in order to get a job. Bankers, TV presenters, lawyers in their own land, they may if lucky clean our hospitals or care for our neglected elderly.
Do you have a business where you can employ a bank accountant for 16 hours a week, even at a basic rate, while he learns the British accounting system or even could you just let him help you as a volunteer ? Could you take a volunteer, give them work experience and help them learn English. Would you meet up with a refugee for coffee or visit them and help them by letting them practice their English talking to you?
Now is the time church, we can make a difference! Our city can be different!
Surrounded by a great host of heavenly witnesses we can meet the challenge and see the triumph of love and grace.
If you would like to bless a family this Christmas and there-after or can offer help with employment please contact me on 07523909798. or email me at carrie.stchap@yahoo.com
Carrie Sant works as a Chaplain to the Streets and is currently supported by Dreams and Visions. | 