I met an amazing woman today. She and her husband are Spanish and they have five young children. They've been living in Wales for a year and her husband has just lost his job. They have applied for Universal credit but, as she said, everything takes so long. As a result they only have enough money to pay their rent to the end of this month.
But she is content. She is trusting God.
In bible study this week we looked at the bit where Paul says he has learned to be content in every circumstance. I said I hadn't yet mastered that so this lady put me to shame.
She also told me that they lived in South America for a time and a tsunami was forecast to hit the area they were living in on Christmas day. "We were in the church and people prayed and the tsunami that was so huge became nothing."
She comes each week to pick up meals for the family. Yesterday she went to the JobCentre. A job was available but she needed a driving licence and she only has a Spanish one. It will take three to four weeks to get a British one and the job is immediate start so she can't do it.
In my naivety I'm thinking, this can't be allowed to happen surely? There must be agencies that can help. I will investigate but I assume they've tried all avenues.
By the way, my latest article for Bay magazine is all about food provision at Zac's. You can read it here.
There were local council elections in England yesterday. The Conservatives have lost a huge number of seats. To me that is less surprising than the fact that they won any, that anyone voted for them.
The next general election will be some time before January 2025. My fear is that people will have forgotten just how corrupt and immoral the party is by then.
6 comments:
Well, at least the Spanish wife and Mom doesn't succumb to anxiety because of her trust in God. I hope God comes through for her and justifies such faith.
Oh, and your Bay article is great and very timely. Food banks and soup kitchens are an institution in Canada too. Of course they are needed, but the fact that they are needed is an indictment of our governments and their failure to redistribute our society's wealth via a fair taxation system and social benefits policy.
I was going to check with you about whether the thumping local losses of the Cons. might have them scrambling to see how long to postpone the general election in the hope of recovery. The sooner they're out the better. They've done so much damage. But multiplying parties won't help, if there's no big enough opposition party to oust them.
Burocracy was invented by Satan.
"My fear is that people will have forgotten just how corrupt and immoral the party is by then." My fear as well. People have such short political memories, and the Tories are so good at glossing over all their cock-ups and shady deals.
Hope all works out well for that family.
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