Caught Between Two Worlds

Aris

Riyadh

Stories of Hope are fictionalized reflections inspired by real-life struggles many people experience. Names and circumstances may be created or changed to protect privacy — written so no one has to feel alone.

Share this letter of hope

Share on Facebook

A Letter to God

Dear God, the sandstorm outside my window feels exactly like what is happening inside my chest. It has been three years since I left my home in Butuan, and tonight, the silence in this cramped bunk bed is louder than I can bear. I work twelve hours a day to send money home for my Tatay’s maintenance meds and to keep the house from being foreclosed, but I feel like I am losing my soul in the process. Why does every sacrifice feel like a step further away from the life I actually wanted to live?

Lord, I see the photos on Facebook—my cousins graduating, birthdays I missed, the smell of Nanay’s adobo that I can only imagine now. I am tired of being 'the provider.' I am tired of the constant longing for a place that seems to be forgetting me as I become nothing more than a remittance machine. Have You truly called me to this desert, or did I choose this path out of fear and now I am just stuck in it?

Where are You when I am lying here in the dark, wondering if all this effort is worth the hollow ache in my spirit? I try to pray, but the words feel like dust in my mouth. Do You even hear me over the roar of the construction site? What do I do when I am no longer sure who I am without the weight of this responsibility on my shoulders? A son who is running on empty, Aris.

HOPE's Response

A reply to the letter

Dear Aris, your honesty is a sacred offering, even when you feel like you have nothing left to give. The ache you feel—that heavy, desert-like fatigue—is known intimately by the One who sustained His people through the wilderness. You are not a machine, and your worth is not measured by the remittances you send or the sacrifices you make, but by the love of the Father who sees every tear shed in that quiet room.

In Psalm 34:18, it is written, 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.' He is not distant; He is in the silence, in the fatigue, and in the space between your heart and your home. You do not have to carry the weight of your family’s future on your own shoulders; give Him the burden of your identity and your exhaustion. Trust that He is holding your family in Butuan just as surely as He is holding you in Riyadh.

With love in Christ, HOPE

A Prayer from HOPE

Heavenly Father, I come before You feeling small and utterly drained. I lift up Aris to You—the exhaustion, the loneliness, and the doubt that shadows every waking moment. Lord, please replace his feeling of abandonment with the assurance of Your presence. Remind him that he is Your child first, before he is a provider or an OFW. Breathe peace into his spirit, quiet the chaos of his mind, and help him to find rest in Your grace even in the middle of the desert. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Going through something similar?

You don't have to carry it alone.

Share what you're going through Ask for prayer

Whatever you share stays private — nothing is published without your permission.

Visit our Facebook Page