Lay it at his feet!

Where to even begin! So much has happened since I last updated you guys, and I apologize for it being so long.

First, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaac was quite the experience. We were never in any sort of danger because our house is solid concrete and very sturdy. However, over 400,000 Haitian people are still living in tents and makeshift dwellings and were dramatically affected by the storm. In fact, one of the men who attend our English and Bible classes lost everything: his tent and his belongings as they were ransacked by others that live close to him. He was still in good spirits and was welcomed to our guesthouse to stay the night and eat a good, hot meal. Two of our full-time missionaries made a way to get him a new tent and he was so very grateful. It was a beautiful reminder of God’s provision and protection.

During the days before the storm hit and a few days afterwards, we brought in all 12 of our children which live in our Children’s Home. It was a very interesting few days full of lots of diaper changing, screaming babies, and crazy antsy kids who just wanted to go play. We shared our living space with all 5 of our babies (meaning those that still wear diapers). Despite the craziness that it may have looked like, it was great to continue to love on those kids and bring them to our home and show them that they truly are loved and appreciated. But be certain of this, I hugged every single one of the ladies who work in our Children’s home and thanked them immensely for the love they show these kids every single day. God is using them to touch these children’s hearts and it’s beautiful to watch and come alongside of.

Birthday Party for Rowen!! :) Loving some  cupcakes! 

Karis and her Cupcake :) 

Haha! Probably the best face ever! Love this baby! 

A couple of weeks ago we helped with a medical clinic at the church we attend here in Haiti. I helped test the blood sugars of lots of patients and even got to practice manually sticking someone’s finger for testing because we ran out of machine lancets. It was horrible watching the faces and reactions of the people who would jerk and twinge in pain at the thought of me manually pricking their finger, but everyone was a good sport and we were able to test everyone who came to the clinic. It was fun to actually get back into the medical realm for a little bit and love on some beautiful people at the same time. God sure is good!

Scrubs on and ready to work at the Medical Clinic at Church! :)
Felt so good to put these on again! 

Since then, we have kept busy with teaching English at the Children’s Home twice a week, teaching English and Bible Classes in Karadue three times a week, and fulfilling whatever other commitment that may arise as we go on. It has been unbelievable to be able to live here in this country and pour into the lives of people who mean so much to me. My babies at the Children’s Home had already stolen my heart, but I think now they know that they will forever be part of my family no matter where in the world we may end up. My ladies in my English class have been such a blessing. There have been many times that we have been late to class because of traffic, car trouble or anything really, but they are always there, waiting. Waiting in a bus that is incredibly hot after walking from wherever they may live, whether that is in the tent city or outside of it. Many come with their children as well and some come with no shoes. But they always come and they are always ready and eager to learn, not only English but about our Savior. Many of my ladies do not have a Bible to read, so they soak up any and all scripture we talk about and either write it down or sit in intense concentration in order to learn as much as they possibly can. God has blessed and once we noticed the need for bibles around 700 US dollars have been donated to buy bibles for not just our classes, but anyone who comes to know Christ through prayer walks that we may take or just any encounter we may have. It was amazing to watch how God works and my ladies sure we thankful to get their own copy of the Word!!

Waiting patiently as we began to tell them that we had brought them Bibles today! 

Look at that smile! She kept saying, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Handing out Bibles to my Ladies! :) They were SO SO excited! 

Checking out their new bibles! 

So… What has God been teaching me the past two months? My ladies and I and a couple of our amazing translators have been going through the book of 1 John. One day we came across this verse, one that immediately spoke to my heart….

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”-1 John 5:3 

Whoa..

Let me just give you the complete story.. At church that previous Sunday, the pastor had read in the book of Matthew chapter 11 verses 28-30.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Talk about the Lord smacking you in the face with his own words…

How many times do we think that following the Lord, going where he tells us to, and doing what he tells us to is easy? I am going to be honest… There are PLENTY of times in the past year and half when God completely rocked my world and turned my fleshly plan and desires for my life upside down and put me on a new God given path that I thought to myself, “Lord, this is hard. How in the world is this going to work?” And just because I am living in Haiti doesn’t mean that things have gotten easier, because if anything the devil has thrown more and more fuel to the fire he wishes to set in between me and God’s plan for my life.

But… Through my ladies and the sweet pastor at PAP fellowship.. I realized why I thought his ways were so hard… I tried to take all the things the devil was throwing at me and every failure and heartache and hateful word said to me and deal with it on my own. I had the mindset that, “Lord, I have seen far more important things that you need to be dealing with. I’ll just keep quiet and deal with this on my own.” Friends, that is not the way to go at all. God tells us, “COME TO ME!!” He desires us to lay our burdens and our heartaches and our pain at HIS feet because he cares for US (1 peter 5:7). He wants us to tell him our deepest heartaches and know that ultimately if we give it all to him, that he is in control and we have nothing to fear. Only HE can change hearts, only HE saves, and only HE can move the mountains or extinguish the fires that the devil puts in our paths… So I challenge y’all to walk with me in this! Let’s tell God what’s going on in our lives. Let’s lay it all at his feet, because in the end… Is it really ours to carry around anyway?

We currently have a team from Lifepoint Church in Murfreesboro, TN here with us and I will have a new post shortly detailing how wonderful our week with them has been! Until next time…

Love and Prayers from Haiti!!