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After my recent trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, I\\u2019m so excited to introduce you to Tess Clarke. We process some of what we learned on the trip to visit refugees from Central and South America and hear about the work Tess and her husband are doing with their non-profit, Seek the Peace.
\\nTess feels called to a ministry of presence in the same way that Jesus enters into our lives. It doesn\\u2019t mean that the circumstances are changed, but He takes away our aloneness, our guilt, our shame and our fear by being present with us in those hard circumstances.
\\n\\u201cThe numbers are staggering and everyone knows that this is an overwhelming issue, which is why I think we can\'t become jaded and paralyzed, but we have to keep looking at it from a human point of view. When we were in Oaxaca, a lot of it was really about learning why people were fleeing and what their lives looked like and what they were hoping for when they came to the United States. Every person I had an opportunity to talk to said, I want to be safe.\\u201d
\\nNo matter where you may fall politically on the issues of immigration and the current refugee crisis, I think Tess\\u2019 perspective on entering into the broken places and loving the marginalized and lonely around us can bring us together as believers. It has made a big difference in my own parenting when I invite my kids into loving others.
\\n\\u201cSomething my kids and I talk a lot about is the line in the Lord\'s prayer, \\u2018Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\\u2019 And we asked Jesus, show us where heaven is not. Show us where heaven is lacking. Lead us there because we want to join you in that space and we want to do what we can to bring heaven there.\\u201d
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