TEA & TOAST

[Tina M. Cortes]

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Tea & Toast

By tinamcortes

 

Tea & Toast

Interesting, the things that can jog a memory. As I was preparing some tea and toast to have as a snack before bed, I just began to reflect on the experience I had recently while I was detained in the U.K. I would usually fix some tea and toast in the evening … and sometimes in the afternoon … and sometimes in the morning with or as breakfast, there was certainly no shortage of Tea, that’s for sure, or bread and jam for that matter. No matter where we were all from or what language we spoke, we would often come together to the table and have some tea and toast together and talk, that was our universal language.

 

The other universal language we shared was prayer, the heartfelt groaning of the soul from disappointment, frustration, apprehension, and the occasional tears. I felt their pain, and I know if I could feel it, I knew God felt it. Exodus 2:24 says “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob.” And Romans 8:26 says “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered.”

No matter how I initially felt, I knew I wouldn’t be there for long one way or another, I ended up being there for two weeks, well a couple days at the Airport in immigration, about a week in one detention center and then transferred to another detention center for another week. But some of the women would be there for God knows how long, and some would be deported back to unsafe destinations of what they had always known as home. One friend I made in the beauty shop was Pakistani, her name was Nazia, and she asked if she could help me straighten my hair. As she was flat ironing my hair, she began sharing her story with me. She and her family were Christian and they were enduring real persecution, her brother was murdered for being Christian, she ran to the U.K. to seek asylum because if she went back home to Pakistan she could be in grave danger. She asked me to pray for her, and she said if she wasn’t there the next day that means they sent her back. Sure enough, I looked for her the next day and the next, she was sent back, and my heart was heavy as I was concerned for her life.

 

I met another woman, Sandra from the Congo, in the first detention center I was in, then I got transferred to the same detention center she was transferred to. When we finally saw each other again it was like two old friends, we hugged and she cried and that brought tears to my eyes as well. She came to the UK to get to France to reunite with her fiancé. I am awaiting her response to hear she’s ok and how things turned out. These women have really lived through and seen some things that most Americans only see on TV or read in articles in the National Geographic. They fled environmental prisons and got so close to their freedom only to be detained in London’s hospitable immigration holding centers and offered tea and toast every time you turn around.

 

I can’t help but think of all the women that made an impact, Sasa from Thailand who wanted to play ping-pong with me all of the time and go to the beauty shop to paint our nails, and we would save each other a place at the table for meals, her English wasn’t good but we understood each other. Lydia from Bolivia who I translated for because no one else knew Spanish at all, although mine is very rusty, I miraculously recalled words that I couldn’t believe I remembered.  It was like every nation and tongue was represented in that detention center! There were women from all over the world there, even some countries I had never heard of.

 

There were different reserved areas for worship for just about every religion.  And I remember going in to the chapel and at any given time when it was open, it would always be filled with prayer and the heavenly sounds of Africa, and Asia and the Caribbean Islands. It reminded me of Acts 16:25 where “Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”  Psalm 102 depicts the prayer of one man who has been afflicted and imprisoned. Yet the word says (verse 20) God heard the groanings of the prisoners.  And He heard their groaning and He hears your groaning, the groaning that no one could understand, that we sometimes can’t articulate, when we don’t know what to say or ran out of the words to say.

 

Although I was released, I know that some women have been there for months and I’ll never know how long some of them will be there, or if they had been sent home as soon as I left, but I know their prayers were being heard and I know that I won’t take for granted the freedom that I have, even the simple freedoms of going outside when I want, turning the lights out when I’m ready, to go to the store or my family’s or friend’s house, to paint my nails when I please, etc. Now when I have my tea and toast, I think of my freedom and the women I met on my journey, and I am inspired to pray on their behalf, and for those who find themselves in a different kind of prison, a prison in their mind or bondage of spirit and just don’t know what to pray but there is a groaning even in the silence! And when He hears our groans, He remembers His covenant with us as He had with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob [Exod 2:24].

 

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of your most holy Son, Jesus Christ, on behalf of my sisters Nazia, Sandra, Sasa, my brother Chris Isichie, and the countless women in the detention centers, as well as brothers and sisters around the world who may be bound physically/literally, mentally, emotionally and spiritually! Your word says in Isaiah 61 that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that You may be glorified (v 1-3). For their shame they shall receive double, and for their confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double, and everlasting joy shall be theirs!(v7)

 

Father God, though they may be behind locked doors, Your word says that who the Son sets free shall be free in deed (John 8:36). While they are there, may they be witnesses for you as Paul was when he was imprisoned in Rome. For those that may be bound, trapped in their mind or their spirit, as Your word says in Acts 16:26 that suddenly there was a great earthquake, so the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all doors were opened, and everyone’s bands were loosed, may there be a great earthquake of Your Spirit so much so Lord God that the very foundations of their prisons were shaken and IMMEDIATELY all doors were opened, the doors of their minds, the doors of their hearts, the doors of their spirits, the very doors to their physical freedom, and their bands be LOOSED, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!  Father God, cover those that have been sent back to war-torn countries, I plead the blood of Jesus over them right now, encamp your angels of mercy around them, encapsulate them in your protection and favor. Open the doors Lord that no man can close and close doors that no man can open (Rev. 3:7-8), Father God, set an open door before them for their return to leave and enter into the place you have called them to, in the name of Jesus!  I pray a Psalm 91 covering over them right now, give them patience and renew their strength to wait out the process so they may be able to mount up with wings as eagles; that they should run and not be weary and walk and not faint (Is. 40:31).  No weapon that is formed against them shall prosper, and every tongue that shall raise against them in judgment they shall condemn because that is their heritage and their righteousness is of You, Lord! (Is. 54:17). Now, Lord God, I thank you that for those who are awaiting for their paperwork to be sorted out, you would give them favor according to Proverbs 21:1 that because the kings heart is in Your hand, like the rivers of water You can turn it any way You wish, so you can change minds and speed up decisions and cause their paper work to appear at the top of the pile, in the name of Jesus!

 

Father God, in all this I thank you for my own freedom and ask you to forgive me for taking it for granted. Lord, thank You for the ability to come and go as I please and have the privilege to worship you without persecution! I give You the glory, the honor, and the praise right now for You alone are worthy. I ask all of this and seal this prayer in Jesus’ name, the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, Amen and Amen!