Last night I had a beautiful moment. You know, one of those
moments when you feel like time is standing still and its just you and God and
the lesson he wants you to learn. It was late. It was a hot day here in Haiti.
There are many missionaries here at Canaan this week, a group from America came
in Sunday.
Sister Rose, a beautiful young woman, gives everything she
has to sweat away in the kitchen and make us amazing meals. There are so many
things she does. One of those things is going to the water filters and filling
a bucket which she then drags to the kitchen and sifts into large water bottles
for us to then fill our water bottles from.
I went in and it was late. She was cooking for someone who
had missed dinner. I needed water for my bottle but there wasn’t any. In that
moment she dropped what she was doing to help me solve my problem. I knew that
I wanted to serve her in that moment and I asked if I could help her fill all
the water bottles for the fridge. I spent 15 minutes sifting water into bottles
that we then come in and empty in less than a minute. It was in that moment
that I realized how hard this woman works for us. She has been heavy on our
teams heart and we have been doing everything we can to help her and bring her
joy. Such a service she does for us, cooking amazing meals that don’t make us
sick, and sifting water so we don’t get parasites… and she loves to do it. But
in that moment I was just so thankful for her.
It also got me thinking about the lesson I continue to learn
over and over. I worked so hard to fill up those things and in minutes they
were empty. It made me think about how our spirit and our walk are the same
way. It is so easy to pour out everything you have, especially when you are in
a place where the need is great. But just like last night, my need was that I
needed to pour out to my water bottle but there was nothing to pour. If we don’t
constantly feed ourselves, we will be empty and have nothing to give.
If we are empty we begin to try and meet needs in our own strength.
When you stop to think about that, it is scary because even if you are the
strongest wisest person you probably are still not enough to meet the demands
of the world and meet the needs you see. Take the time to slow down and fill up…
every time. Don’t run on empty, you are not doing yourself or the people you
want to help a favor. Be disciplined… it will pay off.
Check facebook for pictures and an update video. Also check
out my teammate Kimberley’s page for our cribs video so you can see where we
stay!
Love you all!!!
