I started cleaning my apartment earlier, and big surprise - I got distracted. I was going through some boxes and actually got through a couple before I found my journal from my time in Haiti. Naturally, I began to read it. I began thinking about the friends I made there, the group of people I fell in love with in less than a week's time, and the God I fell in love with even more through that trip. The following excerpt is from April 26, 2013, about a month after coming back from Haiti.
"I miss being in Haiti so much. As I sat here drawing earlier, I listened to worship music. "Healing Rain" came on, then "10,000 Reasons" came on right after. I stopped everything to try to remember all I could about being in Haiti. I was reminded that my arms can hold people - can show love to a child who normally doesn't see it. My now empty hands painted a church, took vital signs, cradled newborn children, held deathly ill children, touched a new believer's shoulder, and hugged an intern who has endured more than most can imagine. My arms were once raised high in an energetic worship service, that also happened to serve as a dance party, all to praise the Lord. Bondye bon! My feet walked through the Haitian countryside, through crops and fields of one of our translators, into the homes of many who love the Lord and many who have no understanding of His love. My legs have carried me over a rocky path, uphill and down, to pray for the sick and destitute. I have run across a field with a child on my back who giggled non-stop. I have stood on a rooftop where I watched the sun rise and fall day by day. My eyes have seen pure joy in simply knowing Jesus, total heartbreak in the eyes of a mother scorned by her peers for her lack of a husband and her dying son, and complete trust in the eyes of a child who crawled into my lap to fall asleep, safe in my arms. I don't think I've ever felt so many emotions all at the same time.
'His love is deep, His love is wide, and it covers us' (Furious by Jeremy Riddle). The love of God is so much more than I ever expected. The fact that God has seen fit to show me just a few of the things He sees moment by moment overwhelms me with joy. To think that the Creator of the universe loves me, loves those children, loves all the people in the world…it blows my mind. Even knowing that He thinks of me is overwhelming. God THINKS of me AND He loves me - ME! He LOVES me. How crazy is that?!"
So as the sun sets here in Austin, I pretend I'm back in Haiti, sitting on a rooftop praising my God, my savior for the world and people He has created and shown to me in such brilliant, living color. I am blessed. Praise the Lord for His work and faithfulness.
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