December 10th Advent day 14

Just back from the ladies weekend away with church where an amazing thing happened.  Theres a new lady in church called Beata.  She's from Poland.  Ive seen her in passing and smiled and said hello but not had the chance to chat properly.  So on Friday night at bedtime in the girls dorm we were sitting talking and i asked here where in Poland she came from.  She aid ' Kalisz'.  ' Oh Ive been to Kalisz' I said.  She was SO delighted!  And it turned out that not only was I the first person she had met in three years of being in N Ireland who had even heard of her home town, but I had been in her church ( Urek and Gosias church) and been on the team of a conference with John Paul Jackson ( many years ago) which she had actually attended!!    Now what are the chances of that happening eh?  We spent a happy hour or so swapping stories.  I know about six people in Poland and she knows them too!!!  Amazing

Recently in church we looked at the story of Ruth.  A foreigner.  An outsider.  A good, hardworking, loyal and faithful woman who was willing to state ' where you go I will go, your God will be my god'  etc.  And because God saw her heart He favoured her.  Big time as it turns out.

Beata is a foreigner in our country.  She is a lovely lady who has had a hard time here suffering from racial abuse and all sorts of problems.  She has a heart after God and I was just so thrilled that this weekend He saw fit to engineer something to bless her.  A truly divine coincidence.  A miracle really.

This Christmas there are many strangers and foreigners living amongst us who are far from home and loved ones.  For whom Christmas might be a difficult time.   Lets take a moment just now to recall them to mind, to pray for them and to ask God if there is anything He wants us to do this holiday season to bless the stranger in our midst.

Lord Jesus,  thank you that you came as an outsider, you spent your childhood in a foreign country, you know what its like to live away from your own people and apart from your Father.  You love the outcast and the foreigner and the stranger.  Help us to love them too.  And to show them Your love this Christmas