What inspires change? A positive word? An inner prompting? Inspired
speech? Comparison? Competition? All of the above? As I sit and write
this blog, the staff at Canaan are in the process of redecorating the
dining hall and reinventing the way the children are served meals. They
are choosing to leave behind the “cafeteria� feel and are providing a
family style setting with place mats, table settings, potted plants, and
flowers. This may not seem like a big deal to us, but for the children
who call Canaan home, providing a warm environment with intentional
place settings and an adult to help serve them a meal reinforces their
value.
In a country like Haiti where poverty and disease is all around, the
people have become a product of their environment. Quite honestly, how
could they not? As I drive down the streets I see a lot of blank faces
and I try to imagine what it would be like to wake up here day after day
after day. I cry out to God asking, “What hope do they have, Lord?� And
then a few nights ago while praying for the children at Canaan, the
Lord gave me a vision. I saw Canaan as a dry and barren land, then the
Lord spoke and said, “This land will no longer be under developed, I am
cultivating it and it will bear fruit. The community will come and
benefit from its fruitfulness and seeds will be planted throughout all
the land.�
Later that evening we held a worship service for the older girls at the
orphanage. In my first blog about Canaan I wrote about a disconnect
between the hearts and minds of the children in regards to their
relationship with the Lord. As my team began praying into this, one of
them felt led to have a worship service for the girls. So we did. And
God met us there. I witnessed girls cry out to their Father in Heaven,
some of them lay on the floor weeping, others found victory and everyone
was strengthened and encouraged, including my team. By the end of the
evening the girls were leading their own worship songs a cappella and
I’m pretty sure a choir of angels joined in the singing. There is
tenderness in their hearts and softness in their eyes. They have a
calling. A destiny. A purpose. They have HOPE. Of course, transformation
is a process and this is just the beginning. But I know God is starting
the cultivating process. The harvest is plenty and the workers are few,
but now the Lord can add a few more workers to His roster. I believe
it’s only a matter of time before the children of Canaan become fruit
bearers, God’s HOPE for Haiti.
