Day 4: Africa, Moses, and the Bigger Plan

Good evening from Haiti!

What a beautiful day the Lord has given us today. We had set aside the day to spend with Ryan & Heather Forman and their children in Montrouis, about 2 hours north of Port au Prince. Ryan and his translator, Jack, took a tap tap down to Port au Prince early this morning and had breakfast with us at the guest house. It was a neat experience to meet up with someone you know and love while you are here, just knowing the Lord has brought you all together in this place. For me personally all I could think about this morning as Ryan got out of the tap tap was the first time we came to Haiti in July 2011. He was so very cautious and timid, almost to the point of being overprotective. He didn't like to speak in front of people because it made him nervous. And here was my "little brother" running all over Haiti, being a leader and following God into places he would have never chosen on his own to go.

We had planned to leave the guest house by 8:00 am, but were running a little late because we were waiting on the driver that Ryan had arranged to come and pick us all up and take us back to Monstrouis. The driver arrived and Susie and I went up to our room to get our bags for the day. As we were walking back out a beautiful young lady appeared in our doorway. She said her name was Dora and that Sherrie had told her she should come and introduce herself to me. Dora is from the Congo in Africa. As a victim of rape in her country she went to school there to become an attorney in hopes of understanding why these things had happened to her and her family. As an attorney she began working in the area of women's rights, and was asked to do a radio program about the subject. As part of this program she denounced the rapists, who then attempted to kill her three times. This is Dora's first visit to Haiti and she leaves tomorrow. But this won't be the last time we see each other. Dora is living in the United States, going to college in Tennessee, and her host family lives in Somerset, Kentucky! We exchanged contact information and plan to get together after we are both back in the US. Amazing!

Still in amazement at the amazing new person that God put into my life this morning, we all loaded up into the van with Ryan and off we went, headed out of Port au Prince. The drive was beautiful.

 

 

 

Once we arrived we spent some time loving on and playing with the kids! We read stories, played with toys, and we all ate pizza together for lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we headed back to Port au Prince, we went with Ryan to the crèche. I actually rode with Ryan as he drove us to the crèche. It was very odd to be in a vehicle with only another white person driving around in Haiti! He did a great job! What an amazing ministry they are working with! All of the children there are either already matched, or are awaiting families for adoption. As he showed us around it was so evident that the kids love him very much. I walked with him back into an area where babies were in their cribs. In the corner of one of the rooms, just as you walked in, was the cutest baby boy who just looked up at me with these amazing eyes. Ryan told me that his name is Moses and he has AIDS. I just kept looking at this precious child, thinking about how rough his little life may become so very early, and how he doesn't have a mommy there every day to give him one-on-one attention, to rock him, to love him, to give him comfort and tell him things will be ok. My heart just broke for this child. We are called, by God Himself, to care for these children yet so many remain in need.

 



 

As I think about the things we did and saw today, the things that have happened throughout our week so far - not planned things but things that have been God-orchestrated, I am reminded of Ezekiel 47. The river referred to in this passage parallels the Holy Spirit and the different depths described (ankle, knee, waist, and over our head) refer to the depth of our spiritual walk and the extent that the Holy Spirit provides our direction. I can picture Christ standing at the edge of the water, waiting for us to take that first step of faith by trusting Him enough to get our feet wet. Everything changes in that moment. The world is alive and new to us, even those things that had always been there but we had not seen. What happens next is hard. You see, Jesus asks us to follow Him. By definition this means that He isn't going to stand still there in the shallow water. He will keep walking forward, leading us into deeper water, marked by a deeper relationship with Him. If we feel like we always need to be in control this can be a very difficult journey; surrendering more and more of ourselves by relinquishing our control and trusting God's perfect plan. If we find it difficult to trust others, including God, this requires us to open ourselves up to being vulnerable; something that can feel like an impossibility. As Christ moves, we have a choice. We can stay behind and watch Him move, thinking 'I'll just wait here where it feels safe', or we can follow Him and trust that He knows where He is going. If we wait in the shallow water where it feels safe, we will miss out on what God is doing in the world. We sacrifice possibilities for familiarity, and we miss out on unimaginable blessings He has in store along the journey for those that follow Him. If we stand there and watch Him walk away, our relationship with Him will not grow. We will never see the heights and depths of what He can do. And when our lives on earth are over, we may stand before Christ as He proclaims that He never knew us.

 

I know that along my walk with God I have had moments when I have felt pretty comfortable and then it would feel as though He was so very far away from me. I have come to realize that when I feel distant from God it means He is out ahead of me in the water and I haven't kept up with where He is going. I know He can accomplish His will with or without  me, but I also know that I was created for His purpose and that I have to decide whether or not to surrender to it. The deeper I go into the water the harder it will be for me to run away. So the question is do I trust Him? Absolutely! Do you?

 

Goodnight from Haiti!

 

Patricia