Lessons From Haiti, Part 1

God in all His sovereignty has better plans

...and truly aren't we glad He does.  Even when they don't seem as good as ours, even when we have spent much time planning, even when it hurts, His plans are always so much better.  This lesson was one our team was quickly confronted with on our trip.

Early morning wake-up to catch a shuttle to the airport on the 12th and...no shuttle.  What we didn't know at the time was that this was only the beginning of absolutely nothing going as planned for the rest of the trip.  Once we arrived in Haiti every detail of the conference began to unravel until the only thing that seemed for sure was that the people who were going to speak were still going to speak...though when, to who, and where were a little sketchy. :)  Not to mention, our cargo with all the conference supplies including blankets for the women to sleep on, goody bags we were going to hand out at the beginning, conference programs for them and much, much more did not show up until Monday afternoon.  Most of the ladies came in on Sunday and the conference started Monday morning.

When your best laid plans fall apart what do you do?  Pray.  Trust God in His sovereignty.  Wait on Him.  Roll with it!  20 women being flexible and rolling with whatever the day brought?  That's right!  I was blessed to be a part of the most amazing team of women who were so flexible and patient.  We really never knew how each day would look from one day to the next, but God knew and His plans were better right from the start.

Everything worked so much batter than we could have imagined.  We ended up having 167 ladies instead of 150 so we couldn't have handed out bags at the beginning anyway.  We didn't have enough so we needed to make a few and then rearrange what was in them to make sure everyone got some things.  We had breakout sessions and main sessions planned but circumstances forced us to only ever have two different sessions going.   God knew.  We were supposed to have 5 translators and ended up with 2 so we could only do two session at a time anyway.  When the speakers all got rearranged they ended being lumped together perfectly by topic...only God can do such amazing things!  We were humbled and grateful.

Can we trust God with our plans?  I think the better question is, can we let go of our plans and trust God with His?  Can we accept that whateve happens is in the sovereign hands of God and choose to have a good attitude anyway, choose to trust God anyway, choose joy anyway? 

I opened my backpack today looking for my glasses...they weren't there.  I am pretty sure they are somewhere in Haiti.  At the moment I discovered it I could feel the tug on my heart saying how are you going to respond?  How?  It wil cost hundreds of dollars to get a new pair.  It was totally a God thing the way I got the last pair.  There is such a temptation to be negative.  Good attitude anway, trust God anyway, joy anyway...  I am sure someone can use those glasses and I am sure God can provide new ones.  He is sovereign in the big and the little.

Team prayer the night before we left for Haiti

My college friend and me

The old well at the Open Door Church compound

where we stayed

The mission house on the right and church on left



The school within the compound

The clinic in the compound

View from the roof of the mission house