continued goodness

The Lord is just blessing our socks off lately.

It truly seems that every desperate situation we have brought to Him over the last weeks He has done something with...either miraculously changed the situation, brought healing, given peace, changed course, provided for, answered, made a way, shown hope, redeemed.

Now that I think of it, that has been true all our lives.

I have been crucified with Christ,
It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in Jesus,
Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
I will NOT nullify His grace.
Galatians 2:20


As we try, often stumbling and failing, to live by faith, He continues to love us and continues to give Himself up for us...beautiful grace...and continues to be alive in our lives.  He continues to be at work, all through the lens of His love for us each.

Friday we met with Dr. Thorton (see previous post) for about an hour, a meeting we walked out of saying to each other again: "Wow.  That was a God thing.  Somebody write that down!"

What a beautiful image of Christ we saw through Dr. Thorton.  Rich in education, experience, wisdom and knowledge, I wasn't even sure if he remembered us, and was confident that he would be far more interested in the powerful ministry tools he brought to Emmaus than in our lives.  How humbling and powerful it was, then, to have him sit us down, ask how we were, look at our situation, offer his help and advice, pray with us, encourage us, laugh with us.

How powerfully and miraculously the Lord can use a willing vessel!  The Lord spoke clearly through this man to affirm our hearts and to replace much of the turmoil, exhaustion and uncertainty of the last months with His peace.  He listened, he cared, he brought himself into our situation with us, he shared what the Lord put on his heart, (which was unarguably  from Him) and he offered to help.

All very simple.  Only 50 minutes.  But life-changing.  Truly.  We've been asking the Lord to fill us up and to pour into the vessels of our lives that we are constantly pouring  out of, and He has been!

Then, Tom, Jerry P. and Troy headed out this morning after a great "last supper" last night, and only a few hours later, Jerry C., Jim and Sue Smith pulled in, preparing to teach courses this week.  Thursday OMS Haiti is taking a 3 day spiritual retreat to the Dominican, where Jim and Sue will be sharing.   The hot weather is finally cooling down a bit (it's only 90 right now :), we had a good phone call from dear friends, got to speak to my Dad this morning...all ways that He loves us.

Grateful for His call on our lives, for the beautiful work He has set before us, and for His great love and grace towards us, manifested in so many ways!

a precious moment

I rarely blog "in the moment", but this particular experience is too sweet to pass alone. I am sitting in my office, working feverishly to finish planning tomorrow's lesson before I get Lily from Gertha. Everyone else is in chapel, the last Friday Praise Service of the year. The chapel is 50 yards in front of me, and the community of Saccanville, 50 yards behind.

With all the loudness 50 called men and women could possibly produce, the students are singing praises to their King, OUR King, sounds of worship echoing all throughout this dark world.

I sit alone, in the middle, between radiant light and stifling darkness, listening joyfully to the one spilling into the other.

"Even the darkness isn't dark to you, O Lord" David says, and I testify today that this bold claim is true.

The school-year is finishing, a year that should have been defined by sadness, darkness and death. We moved to one of the most voodoo entrenched communities in Haiti this year and lost over 200,000 of our countrymen, friends and family this year. Instead, the praise of Emmaus this morning is that "He is still on the throne", and I can't help but think through just the past 6 months and be floored by what beauty and light has defined the year instead...

a beautiful new mission field....followers of Satan turning around completely to follow the Lord...10 new passionate and godly students...a dead man walking and praising the Lord...hundreds of community members living in hellish circumstances now completing dry and strong homes...

As the praises of His children call out to a dark and weary world, I KNOW that things will never be the same. Haiti will never be the same, Saccanville, never the same. Emmaus will never be the same...I, never the same, because He is on the throne, still. The God who knows the flight of each sparrow, the growl of each stomach and the gnaw of each heart is ACTIVE on His throne and in the mud and dirt of OUR hearts and lives TODAY, despite ALL circumstances.

AH, how I wish you were sitting here with me, speechless with praise and astounded by His gracious hand, deeply aware of His every-moment, every-place, every-circumstance presence.

Tout bagay deja bien
Tout bagay deja bien
paske Jezu shita sou trwon-nan
Tout bagay deja bien, tout bagay deja bien, tout bagay deja bien.

Saton perdu batay
Saton perdu batay
paske Jezu shita sou trwon-nan
Saton perdu batay, Saton perdu batay, Saton perdu batay.

(Everything is already good, because it is Jesus who sits on the throne.
Satan has lost the battle, because it is Jesus who sits on the throne.)

more than the watchmen wait for the morning

Despite seeing the Lord at work so clearly on a daily basis, and the joy that we continue to experience while living alongside of our brothers and sisters here in Haiti, we have been simultaneously feeling discouraged, depressed and even a bit despairing.

We have been feeling the type of frustration and sadness that forces us to the Lord...we cannot come to Him later, cannot seek Him when we're 'finished', cannot wait until a better time. We need Him. NOW. Need to hear His voice, feel His hand, see His face. We praise the Lord for times such as these!

Not coincidentally, I am also studying overtime to prepare for a Bible study God's doing through me starting next week. In my desperation, He's had me clinging to the Scriptures I'm studying: the Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 120-134.

Something Matt has taught me is to "pray" Scripture...claim it as my own and put my name in there, my story, MY God.

And something God has done is continue to bring the Scriptures to life in a way they never were before coming to Haiti...praise the Lord for His faithfulness to speak to us where we are!

Today, this is what that looks like: (all taken from Psalms 120-134)

In my trouble I cried to the Lord,

and He answered me!

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains (outside my window)

From where shall my help come?

My help comes from You,

maker of heaven and earth.

You will not allow my foot to slip;

You who keep me will NOT slumber.

You are my keeper;

You are my shade (in the scorching sun overhead)

The sun will not smite you by day,

and You will protect me from all evil;

You will guard our going out (to class, to evangelize, to town) and our coming in,

from this time forth and forever.

Behold, as the eyes of the servants look to the hand of their master,

As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

(As the eyes of the poor to the hand of the foreigner, hoping, relying, desperate for good things)

So MY eyes look to YOU.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, be gracious.

My soul is filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease.

Had it not been for YOU,

O Lord, had it not been for YOU on our side,

the waters (hardship, heartbreak, disappointment, devestations) would have engulfed us;

The raging waters would have swept over our souls.

But blessed be the Lord, who has not given us over!

The Lord has done great things for us;

We are GLAD.

Unless YOU Lord build this house,

we labor in vain as we build it;

Unless YOU Lord guard the city,

our watchmen keep awake in vain.

Out of the depts I have cried to You,

O Lord, Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive to my voice.

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand? (AMEN, not me!)

There is forgiveness with You! (Amen again)

My soul waits for the Lord

MORE than the watchmen wait for the morning;

(Our watchmen, they walk about our home all night long...how anxious they must be to see the sun, how glad, how joyful and relieved to feel its warmth after the long dark night!)

Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning,

my soul waits for YOU.

O, Stacey, hope in the Lord;

For in Him there is lovingkindness.

I will not sleep,

Until I find a place for the Lord to dwell.

Waiting on Him with great anticipation...