They Will Know Him by Our LOVE

Sitting here in another sweltering Haitian hospital waiting room, I pass the time reading, praying, scanning social media, and reading blogs. I’ve been here many times before. There’s just so much a person can do to avoid watching the clock.  I close my eyes in prayer as I hear the moans of the woman in the next chair bending over in pain and cupping her swollen breast. She holds her breath to avoid vomiting and I grip her elbow while whispering words of hope into her ear – hope in a God who knows her pain and is moving in her life. She knows I have nothing to gain for helping her. I assure her that it is not me helping her BUT GOD. I barely know her name, BUT GOD knows the number of hairs on her head.

There have been so many thoughts running through my mind today. I read and think and pray and think some more. I pray for patience and focus on the mission God has set before us. I ask God to keep me from distraction and know that He knows all things and He will reveal truth in time as I stay focused on His mission and not allow the enemy to distract our purpose. Our purpose is this young mother sitting beside me – to show her that God is good and is answering her prayers. Our purpose is the hundreds of patients that have already been seen, cared for, and prayed over in the last three days. Our purpose is those 10 adult students sitting at tables in the church learning to sign their name for the first time in their life. Our purpose is to focus on God’s purpose and the needs of His children and not on our own personal needs. He has shown us not to worry about ourselves because He has that all under control. We trust Him and he provides so that we can be used by Him. As He uses us to love on people here, they know that we are different. They feel and see His presence and love in our eyes. I trust that they know that the love they feel and see is God’s love, and His love is REAL. They know it is real. This is our purpose.

Yesterday in Creole Literacy class, we were discussing John 13:35 when Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” We talked about the difference between human love and Christ’s love. We talked about how human love seeks its own gain often at the expense of others, and God’s love is unconditional and spares no expense. It is a love that is selfless and unexplainable and pure. We are incapable of maintaining this kind of love. It is only through the love of Christ IN US and THROUGH US that we can love others beyond ourselves. That is my prayer daily. I pray every day that God will love others through me so that they will know what His love is and I can feel His love flowing through me. 

Humanity listens to the chatter around them and they react with blinded perception. All I want is for God’s will to be done in the lives of those around me, and for Him to use us for His Glory to show His love. I pray that I will never, ever become distracted and seek anything other than that. If I do, I hope He will break me or remove me as I know He can do. If that day ever comes, I pray I will have enough love in me to be graceful and selfless and not destroy His purpose in the process. He is God and He KNOWS. I cling to that promise. His will be done! 

The roar of the fans is still echoing through my ears, as they stir the thick air and it falls still a short distance beyond the stand. Jesula is now sleeping, a brief repose from the pain that will pierce her when her name is called. My thoughts drift back to Hope Center and the friendships we have grown there and call family. The hugs and smiles and laughter and tears that have become our life here in Haiti. They are such beautiful blessings to us. We are bound to one another through the love of Jesus and we carry on in His will every day. We are His. 

Please pray for Jesula as she begins what will no doubt be a long and painful process, but a process nonetheless that is a gift from God. Please pray for Woodlove and her sisters as the walk through this journey with their mother. 

Pray for Lovelyn who is 8 months pregnant and in early labor a she seeks medical attention across town. Vladimir took her and her mother to that hospital after dropping us off here at Bernard Mevs and he helped them get settled in there. He is now waiting outside for us to be through.

Pray for David who we discovered has an umbilical hernia. We will take him to another hospital tomorrow to be seen and operated on by a visiting team of general surgeons. 

Pray for the young mother and her 3 month old baby Lovely who refuses to eat and has drifted off into a listless state of quiet. Pray that her mother finds the care she needs to restore health to her baby. 

Pray for Marise who we posted about a few months ago and is now waiting for an orthopedic surgeon to fix the broken bones protruding from her leg for three years now. Pray that God will move in her father’s heart to be cooperative with her desire to seek medical attention and the doctors’ desire to help her. 

Pray for the hundreds – thousands – of other Haitians who sit for hours and hours in sickness and pain praying that someone will call their name so they don’t have to spend yet another day waiting only to be turned away. 

Pray for healing in this land. Pray for healing – both physical and spiritual. Pray for healing.