August 2020 Prayer Requests from Cory and Kristiana Miller
The word is in. The Irish government has denied our appeal to return.
We feel crushed. While we knew from the beginning that this was a possibility, we have hoped and prayed for a different answer all these long months. Many of you prayed with us and helped us along the way, and we have felt your support with deep gratefulness. We don’t understand all this, just yet; I pray that we will, someday.
Before we received our official rejection letter this morning, we thought the response to this appeal would be our final answer: yes or no, back to Ireland or not. However, our immigration lawyer believes that our case was unfairly handled and unreasonably denied. She has encouraged us to speak with her on Thursday about the possibility of taking the matter to Irish court for judicial review, where, with a strong defense, our denial might be overturned.
We have agreed to the meeting, where we hope to ask some significant questions. What would this process entail? How long might it take? What will it cost? etc. With more information, we hope to be in a better position to decide how to move forward.
Would you please pray for us this week, especially over Thursday’s meeting? Although we long deeply to return home to Ireland and this step could be a final chance to do that, we are hesitant to embark on another long legal process that could end in an additional denial.
With Europe’s borders closed to Americans and European consulates in the US refusing to accept new visa applications, if we do not return to Ireland, all roads to Europe are closed to us while the pandemic persists. This means that, should we decide to pursue a different European base for our ministry, our family will need to continue living in limbo until the global situation changes. As you can probably imagine, the strain of endless transition has real costs for our family—our ministry, our mental health, our daughters. We feel the strain already. Will you pray?
PRAY:
That Thursday’s meeting would give us a clear, unified direction for how to proceed. Pray that Cory and I leave that meeting with a shared certainty, either to throw ourselves into this last attempt to return to the country we love, or to let it go. Neither of us feel certain either way, yet.
For comfort and courage. We are weary. This news isn’t a surprise, but it is deeply disappointing, and (as many of you have also experienced) 2020 has already been a year of countless disappointments, large and small.
For Rylynn and Melody. Rylynn has been asking when we will return to Ireland since the day we left. She has not forgotten and she has not stopped missing it. If we do not return, which seems more likely than ever, the news will be a serious blow to her. Please pray that both girls would experience a supernatural level of peace and stability through all of this, rooted in God’s love and the empathetic solidarity of family.
For a global miracle and an end to the coronavirus pandemic this year. Let 2020 be the year COVID-19 came and left. I think all of us can get behind this prayer!
Thank you again for your ongoing prayers, encouragement, friendship, financial partnership, and every other form of support that you have shown our family over the past year. We welcome your emails and messages, always, so please know that you are appreciated, even if we do not respond to everyone individually this week. We are doing our best, but we are pretty emotionally spent.
Always,
Kristiana, Cory, Rylynn, and Melody Miller
116 Kellogg Place, Wheaton, IL 60187