Every night that we have been here I have been exhausted and ready for bed by 9 pm! I know that is very unusual for me. However when you work in the hot sun all day lifting 20 lb blocks it just zaps your energy. Today I didn’t get to work on the house because my fingers have blisters on them so I went into Croix de Bouquet to set up a bank account. I now have ten dollars in a Haitian bank! Ha! I am not sure if my inability to sleep is because of excitement about having accomplished this task, excitement about seeing Angella tomorrow, or the cup of coffee I drank at 9:30 tonight. It’s probably a combination of all. Tomorrow we are having a very special visitor. Our friend Angella Jacques is coming from Carrefour to see our clinic. Angella is a young doctor that we came to know last summer when we were working with GAIN in the medical clinics. We are so excited to see her! She will spend the night with us and ride back with us to Port au Prince.
Because I could not sleep, I read about 6 chapters in Isaiah tonight. When I got to chapter 55, I realized why God has had me in Isaiah tonight. All day today I have found myself thinking about the thorns. You are probably wondering what I mean by that. Well, it seems like every plant in Haiti has thorns. We tried to climb one of the mountains near our house the other day and got all scraped up by thorns and briars. Today I began to wonder why there are so many thorns here. I never figured that out but I did discover why this was in my mind. In Isaiah 55, the Word explains that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His plans are so much greater than our plans. Then when it gets down to verse 12 I think, it says He will replace the thorn bush with pine trees and where the briers grew will grow Mertle trees. I think this is interesting not only because I have been thinking about the thorns all day, but because when we were up at the school earlier today checking on the progress of our van repair, I pointed out to Stan a pine tree growing in front of our old dorm. I just noticed how odd it looked and that I had not noticed any other pine trees growing anywhere else in Haiti. I believe that through all of this, God was reminding me that He has HUGE plans that are beyond my ability to even dream, and that the harsh landscape here is about to become even more beautiful and even plush….without thorns! After I finished reading and rejoicing, I decided to step outside for a few minutes to just look up and worship God’s greatness. I looked up into the midnight sky and saw what seemed to be a gazillion stars. They were shining brighter than I had ever seen in my life! It was absolutely breathtaking! I had to MAKE myself come back to bed. I’m still not sleepy, and I am even beginning to get a little hungry (“Mwen grangu!”) but I will try once again to shut my brain off and go to sleep.
I pray that every single one of you who reads these words will feel blessed and filled with the same hope and assurance that I feel tonight and that is that God is in control and He has great plans. One day all of the thorns you may have in your life will be turned to plush green growth, and others will see His great works manifest in you and KNOW that God is great and He is good.
Bon nuit my friends! Thank you for your prayers!
haitiwest 