Today was supposed to be my last day of a week long trip I had planned in Haiti. But, as you probably know, it was canceled due to the political unrest that erupted in Haiti on December 7th when the two runoff candidates for president were announced. Since then we fought hard to re-book flights but after 3 flights were booked and canceled, we made the decision to postpone our trip until January.
I have naively believed with such certainty that whenever I wanted to go to Haiti, then I would just go. Perhaps the beauty my heart sees in the people and my overwhelming love for them has blinded me to the fact that I am dealing with the ‘third world’ of the third world countries. Surely it should have crossed my mind that a day may come when I want to go to Haiti but will not be able to. But it never did. Not until now when my December trip was canceled. This whole experience has birthed in me an even deeper appreciation for the time I have had in Haiti with these precious people and has reminded me to not ever take a single minute I will have there in the future for granted.
Through all of this disappointment I kept hearing God say, “I know you want to be with the Haitian people you love. Your love for them is no surprise to Me. You love them because I gave you this love for them. But, you must remember, I alone am the One who sustains them. My love I have given you for the people of Haiti is a love that you can offer them no matter where you are. Keep praying for them. I hear you when you cry out for Haiti. Trust me and watch My faithfulness…I will always provide and care for them. You will be with them again soon. You may be absent now but I am always present. Believe, trust, and pray.”
That is God reminding me in His awesome loving kindness that I am nothing apart from Him. Acting in accordance to this truth and simply giving lip service to it are two drastically different things. My lip service gives the Lord no glory. I can throw out well spoken words until I’m blue in the face but if my actions paint the picture of a mad woman running around in my own strength to accomplish everything, I’m nothing more than a royal hypocrite.
God in all of His goodness certainly has multiple purposes and ways of bringing glory to His name through the turmoil in Haiti. In light of what I just shared, I will now give God all glory in what has transpired in Haiti and has been accomplished for Pastor Nahum over this last week…and, yes…all in my absence. Our God is God alone and He is able to do far greater than our imaginations will ever dream.
I’ll borrow a phrase a friend of mine often says…
“I just have to brag on God.”
Let the bragging begin: It’s incredibly fantastic to be a part of God’s purposes and it’s even more wonderful to see how He places various members of the body together to work for His ultimate purpose. He uses people who don’t even know each other to accomplish His will. I LOVE to meet new brothers and sisters in Christ just because God ordained for our paths to cross. You know what I mean? You are just on your Jesus journey...it’s not your motive to go rack up some friends…then all the sudden you find you are surrounded with people wildly in love with Jesus. You are actively participating in unity with the body of Christ. It’s just how it works and it’s so FUN to me. I have so many examples of this but for the sake of keeping this post from never ending, I will only tell you a few of my most recent examples.
I had the privilege of meeting a girl named Tammy from Canada through the internet. She found me through reading the blogs and just a few days ago sent me an email. She was contacting me to find out how to send money to Pastor Nahum’s church and orphans. As she spoke to me in her email, it was all too familiar. Her words reflected the truth of the gospel and there was an immediate connection made in the body of Christ. Tammy has the most amazing compassion for the people of Haiti and a heart that desires for them to have the same opportunities we lavish on ourselves and our families. Tammy’s connection was one way God showed me His excellence in connecting the body to fulfill the purpose of caring for the orphan.
I was finding peace in remembering God telling me, “when you are absent, I’m still present.” My God has it under control. He is caring for our twins, Pastor Nahum, all of his orphans, and all the beautiful people I love in Haiti.
God never stops… He keeps drawing us all in to form one body in unity with Christ.
Our Lord has always been about choosing the improbable. Take, humble David for example…completely the least likely of all the brothers to be chosen as king of Israel...but that’s who God chose because He looks at the heart and He liked what He saw in David’s heart.
In the same way, humble Pastor Nahum is the least likely of all to be chosen to rise up as a leader to impact the village of Gilbert and to look after the orphans up in the mountains of Haiti…but that’s who God has chosen because He is still in the business of looking at the heart and He likes what He sees in Pastor Nahum’s heart.
By ourselves we are all just a small part of the body…kind of useless. But together, united in Christ Jesus, we make up a fully functional body with endless potential. When the body joins together, our possibilities are unlimited…we have a collected extravagance of the power of the Holy Spirit with an uncontainable intense love ready to be released to the orphan and least of these. The light of one small part of the body is only a flicker, but when joined with the rest of the body, all the little flickers combine to shine like a blazing torch that cannot be extinguished. In the same way one small part of the body can speak but only a faint whisper is heard. But, when joined to the rest of the body, all the whispers combine to create a magnified voice that will echo out to a hurting world proclaiming the name of Jesus.
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