October 6, Carrefour, Haiti
“Anchor of my soul, you sustain, you sustain.
When I’m in the storm, you remain good to me.”
It’s 9:30 at night and we’re standing on the roof of our house worshipping. We are open to the wide expanse of sky above us, the stars so vibrant we could easily pick them from the sky between our fingers.
All of a sudden, lightning illuminates the entire sky, as if it were day and the sun was lighting up the sky. This lightning lasts for three full seconds. I’ve never seen lightning this bright! It’s brightness lingers in your eyes like a camera flash. It’s so bright it almost gives you a headache.
BOOM!! Thunder so loud it literally shakes the walls around you and the floor beneath you. Thunder so mighty that your first instinct is to duck to the ground into a ball because you have no idea what else to do. Thunder so great that it literally instills fear within you. That kind of thunder.
It happened again tonight. It is 12:30 in the morning and we are sleeping on the floor, worship music playing softly to ward off the darkness in the air that surrounds us. Earbuds in, the sweet melodies of Josh Garrels lulling me to sleep.
BOOM!!
We are all jarred awake not just by the incredible noise but also by the vibration of the floor beneath us. We all open our eyes and raise to our elbows. Words of comfort float around the room, “it’s ok…” I hug my teddy bear, Henry, tightly to my chest.
“Anchor of my soul, you sustain, you sustain.
When I’m in the storm, you remain good to me.”
That very moment the words of Josh Garrels’ song “Anchor” begin to play on my iPod. Peace washes over me.
Haiti is so incredibly tumultuous. The darkness and despair is manifested in the physical, it is thick in the air around us. This country is hurting, it needs Jesus.
It’s ironic that the house we are living in often loses power at night. We are surrounded by literal darkness but even greater spiritual darkness. It’s ironic that we experience thunder and lightning all around us and yet it never rains.
We are in the eye of the storm. Our home is the calm in the midst of the tempest that surrounds us. It’s because the Lord is the anchor for our souls. We are anchored to something greater than any storm. We are connected to a God that sustains. Our prayers are that this country may experience the hope and peace that comes with an anchor firmly wedged within the heart of Jesus Christ.
“This hope is a steady and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.” – Hebrews 6:19
