I looked into a women’s eyes today who is 106 years old, skin dark as ebony and eyes blue as the sky, and she smiled at me in a way that made me feel at peace. Yesterday I held a little boy named France who lives in a small house with no power or water. His family has no income and he is already set up for a hard life that is bound to be full of struggle, but when he saw me he ran to me and jumped in my arms. No hesitation or shyness, and when I caught him and swung him around laughing, I forgot for a moment all of the things that make up his life physically, and my heart exploded at the joy I felt in knowing that he is the son of a God who overcomes and overpowers any situation we face in life. I sat in an orphanage a few days before that and watched through teary eyes as a group of orphans, beautiful, radiant smiling children who have no family, home, or belongings, pray for me. They spoke all at once, fervently lifting up their pleas toward heaven for MY sake. And I felt humbled that I have the privilege to worship a God that sees them as not poor, as not lacking, as not less in anyway, but as more wealthy then earthly possessions can equal because they have true childlike faith. I stared in awe at children who were raising their hands towards heaven for ME, and realized that I was wrong walking into that orphanage with the perspective I held. I had no right to view them as less or as impoverished. I sat on the ground in Titanyen Haiti and felt the Lord sit down beside me as I cried silently, and He smiled as I stared in awe. He put His hand on my shoulder as He whispered to me “Josephine, blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Josie, religion that is undefiled before God is this; to visit the orphans and widows in their afflictions. Josephine, These are mine. Josephine, I have never made mistakes.”
My heart broke for my Father when I looked into that women’s eyes. I broke inside when I caught that laughing little boy, and I felt it break when I watched as children who have nothing but are wealthy, pray for me who has everything and is poor. The least of these, the impoverished, the people we meet everyday who “can’t” go to church because they can’t afford nice clothes, the population here in Haiti who practices voodoo and worships the devil, the families who have nothing, and the orphans. They are priceless. Cherished. Loved with a passion that is overwhelming, never ending, and too big for us to ever fully comprehend.
Moments like these happen everyday no matter where we are or who we are with. The Lord is in everything we do. Everything we say, hear, see, and think. We just have to look for him. It’s our privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to seek after the Lord in every moment and situation. He WANTS in. He LONGS to be a part of us, of who we are no matter where we are from or what kind of life we are forced to live. “From the rising of the sun to it’s setting, the name of the Lord is to praised!” – Psalm 113:3
Haiti is a country full of individuals who know Christ in a way that I have never comprehended. To have a man look me in the eyes and tell me he has 3 children and no job, and that he provides for his family and feeds them through faith completely shattered my view of what faith looks like. But it wasn’t just one man… I have people tell me that at least once a day doing village ministry. And to have a women sit in front of me after telling me that she has lived a life of poverty, death, hardship, and hunger tell me that because of what we were able to share with her she decided to give her life to Christ right then and there still shocks me. What an amazing testament of what the Lord will accomplish when you allow Him to work through you.
“Each one of our lives is threaded in and out with God’s provision, his grace, his protection, but on the average day, we notice it about as much as we really notice gravity or the hole in the ozone. Once you start seeing the faithfulness and the hope, you see it everywhere. And little by little you realize that all of life is woven with bits and stories of God’s goodness.”
(Cold Tangerines)
Thank you for reading!!! I am $3,000 away from being fully funded, if you want to help donations would be a blessing BEYOND measure.
God bless:)
