powerful prayers

When I asked for prayers this morning for our trip to Milo, I didn't know.


Didn't know how much we were going to need them.  


When I said we were off for an adventure, well, I didn't know how true that would be, either.


But it was.  And whether you were praying or not, He answered!


Sharing details is just going to be upsetting, so long story short, we got pulled into the start of manifestations (riots) on our way through town to Milo, which the girls slept through and the ladies and I prayed through.  We couldn't turn around, so we had to keep pushing forward.


We finally made it to Milo, and we had a good visit with Gertha, though she was in considerable pain, the conditions were not excellent, and her hip-to-hip scar was gruesome.  She has very little understanding of what has happened except that the doctors "cut out the bad stuff."  Visiting people when they're sick is such an important part of this culture, and I can't help but think that part of it is because there is so much uncertainty in medical care.  


However, it was really good to see her and pray with her, and I'm praying that this surgery was the start of her feeling much better.  She's missing Thalia something awful, and seeing Lily and Sofia through the window was the only thing that made her grin (kids weren't allowed in, which I came to see the wisdom in).


Grateful for the chance to see Gertha, we grabbed some rice and beans, ate lunch to keep the girls from getting grouchy and headed back home, sure that the riots from earlier would be long dispersed by the UN and by time (there is only one road through town).


However, things had only drastically heated up, and in the wrong place at the wrong time, I didn't know what to do but trust and pray, pray and trust.
  
As I've shared recently, there is just no place that God is not...NO place, and I praise Him that that was resoundingly true today, with my babies in the backseat and dear friends around me.  


Lily and Sofie are HIS, Micheline, the baby in her belly, Noel, Naomi, Peninah and I...His.  I couldn't take care of us...a powerful reminder that we're not IN my hands, but HIS.


When we finally found ourselves almost home quite a while later, I asked Lil to sing us a song, and for the last 20 minutes she sang, "Hakkuna Mattata, it mean no worries, for the rest of your days!" at the top of her lungs in her party dress (turns out going to the hospital is quite the dress up event) and I couldn't help but be blessed by her childlike faith.  Never occurred to her to be scared, and the message on her heart was "no worries for the rest of our days" :)  


I could not have known.  There was nothing I could have done beyond what I did.  But He knew.  And He did what only He could do.  And I'm so incredibly thankful.


I prayed that the Lord would give me life-on-life chances today to be Jesus with the women around me, and I praise the Lord that He gave me His peace and presence...and protection!


THANK YOU for your prayers, and please never think that we don't need them, that He doesn't listen or that your prayer support of our family and His work in Haiti isn't SO vital!  We are standing on His faithfulness and on the faithfulness of your prayers...


Thank you!