Reflection: An asylum seeker's story

Some time ago I got to know a lovely Christian man who came to Australia for asylum because of political persecution in his home country. He told me how reading the Bible sustained him, and how he was separated from his young family as he fled his country - and that he hadn't seen them since. His story breaks my heart. More recently we heard that his application for refugee status was rejected. He was devastated and had problems sleeping. His faith was tested. Many Christian friends gathered to pray for him. We waited patiently for the hearing of his appeal to take place. But the hearing was indeed 'short' because they decided to delay the hearing just before the schedule date. But last week I heard that the hearing eventually took place and straight after that he was granted permanent residence status to live in Australia. We are thankful to God for his mercy, but continue to feel his pain of being separated from his family. We struggle to understand why such a lovely Christian man has to go through all that hardship, but rejoice with him for the grace God has shown him.