We pray that a solution will be found soon
We pray for those countries including our own which are receiving people and to give us guidance as to how we can help.
I WAS on the ground, with very little knowledge of what was going on. Everyone was talking around me in French and my husband telling someone my age... he had surely doubled it, and I argued with him. And why are we here in France?
I had collapsed due to a sudden drop in my blood pressure and fell straight backwards onto the rough road way where we were walking, through a little French town called Die (pronounced Dee!), in southern France and knocked myself out.
I came round but very slowly and deliriously not making sense apparently for a good hour. I eventually gave in and agreed with my husband’s correct knowledge of my date of birth.
By then I was in an accident and emergency department in a small hospital, having eight stitches to my head and being kept in for observation. Hubby went back to our tent in a nearby camp site.
I wasn’t interested in cleaning my teeth or sorting myself out, I was just very tired and the nurses made certain that I had understood that I was not to get up to go to the toilet and that I should call them. The morning saw me wanting to have a wash, clean my teeth and generally sort myself out. I was not allowed up and had to wait until hubby arrived late morning. Without a toothbrush! I was in hospital for two nights.
Across the Leeds Diocese
there are groups of MU members creating little emergency bags containing a comb, small bar of soap, toothbrush and a small tube of tooth paste, and a note from the Mothers Union saying that we are thinking about
each person who receives the bag, when they find themselves unaccountably in hospital with no personal effects. These bags are taken to the relevant emergency assessment wards.
But these hardships cannot now be compared to anything that the Ukrainians are experiencing right now. They may still be in Ukraine or making their way out across borders, and possibly not as complete families.
What on earth can we do to help them? Every small act adds up to a major change and helps those in need.
We can donate money, clothing, personal hygiene items, and in fact anything that you could barely imagine needing if you had to suddenly leave your home.
In the Brighouse area there is the registered charity,
Focus for Hope, which helps thousands of vulnerable people in our area, as well as refugees. They support the elderly, the homeless, those who are fleeing domestic violence, and isolated/lonely individuals. https://www. focus4hope.co.uk/
We join them in prayer asking for God’s guidance as to what on earth we can do... we pray for all leaders including Putin that a solution will be found and we pray for all civilians who have been encouraged to fight for their freedoms and all those fleeing into new countries.
We pray for those countries including our own which are receiving these people and to give us guidance as to how we can help.
Run your finger around the outline of Ukraine and think of the suffering at the borders, within the borders and outside of the borders.
God will hear your silent prayer.
If you want to know more about the Mothers Union go to https://www.mothersunion. org/diocese/leeds or contact me by email juliatum65a@ gmail.com