Nashville: God at work in refugees’ lives

For two months this summer, I am interning at World Relief Nashville, helping resettle refugees.

Katharine RosaBefore coming to Nashville, the word refugee was nothing more than a word because I never really knew what it means to be a refugee. I just used the word “refugee” to describe what I was going to be doing this summer. 

At orientation, I learned a refugee is someone who “flees their country and is unable to return due to a well-founded fear based on persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”

Learning this has been mind blowing to me. I had no idea people had to leave home and everything they know behind because they are being faced with persecution. I have been so used to living in a country where you are free to choose your religion, social and political group, and where being a certain race or nationality doesn’t mean you have to flee your home. I have been so ignorant to think that these things don’t happen around the world. 

It breaks my heart to see how difficult it is for most refugees to adjust to our American culture. Most refugees do not speak English or know how to do things I never would have thought I would have had to teach someone how to do.

Teaching a refugee how to do something has been one way we have been able to show God’s love.

Recently I received a message: “God is revealing himself to the refugees … even if they don’t know they need him.” This was very encouraging to me. It’s not easy sharing the gospel because of language barriers. It’s a constant reminder God is the one moving in peoples’ lives—not me.

Katharine Rosa, a student at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, is serving with refugee resettlement in Nashville, Tenn., through Go Now Missions.