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All asylum-seekers must try to convince people who are not likely to believe them that their life is in danger and it is not safe for them to return to their country of origin. Although [some] repeatedly label immigrants as criminals and con artists, my experience with dozens of parents and children arriving at the border is that they are far more likely to be the victims of violent crime.
The first person who approached me was a transgender Mexican woman who had been beaten nearly to death. After praying freely, I read a prayer that has always been meaningful to me.
O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
She asked me if she could have a copy to keep with her. I wrote it out for her, and she pressed a flower made from a braided palm frond into my hand.
This message is excerpted from “’Unless I see the mark’” by Heidi Neumark in the April 2021 Gather magazine.