“Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” Romans 6:13
as I read these words my heart was congruent with them!!! I desire to and hopefully am doing just this! To think of my body as an “instrument of righteousness” to be used by God any way He chooses!!! Wow! “Obedience which leads to righteousness” Romans 6 verse 16, so powerful to be obedient to Him!
Job 29 –
Verse 11 – 17
Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him. The man who was dieing blessed me; I made the widows heart sing. I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger. I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth….(verse 25) I was like one who comforts mourners.
Romans 4:17
“the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”
Wow, powerful things to take to heart from our Lord! I am pressed to obey the one whos possession I truly am!
We are seeing lots of quicker than normal healings, lots of doctors here who say so! God is touching, healing bodies and hearts! Thanks for all the prayers! Danita’s is truly a beacon of light to Haiti!
When I hold Jean (the boy with cerebral palsy) I cant help but minister to him the whole time (someone has to always be with him)... feel myself being poured out over him, asking the Holy Spirit to come! For God to love on him, and to heal him... body, mind, soul, and spirit! Praying for him constantly, and ask for good to come to him, his life... what do You want to do here God??? He is not able to do anything for himself… what is the point of his life (as awful as that sounds). Please pray that he is miraculously healed, and would get better at least to the point where he could walk using a walker…etc.
I have grown to love the boys here… my heart has connected with theirs and will hurt when I leave… sometimes I miss home soo much, but at the very same time I know I am going to miss these children so badly when I am back!
The most hopeless situation I have seen would be this lovely girl… her brain has fluid that has swelled her skull (before it has fully formed and hardened). There is pressure put on her brain by this and also it is very heavy! These children don’t usually make it very long… this will only improve due to a MIRICLE – “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Luke 18:27
At one point (before we had sorted and found all the new much needed supplies) a little girl got her hair washed with laundry detergent… haha and I have seen several bathings with dish soap… haha so funny what is not necessary or needed when you have to just make due, because you have to!
I want ANYTHING to eat BUT rice and beans!!! Anything LESS heavy! haha
The Lord is teaching me the importance of a Sabbath! Eventually as I am sure all missionary's (not that I am calling myself a missionary... ha) find, you hit a sort of wall... you cant stand to be hot, sweaty, hair pulled, body touched (just wanting love, and snuggling... but in 100 degree weather!!!), trying to take your stuff (watch, sun glasses...etc. they don’t know better) but as much as you love them and love our Lord, you can only take so much without a break... going strait from the Africa trip to this one, and being here with these kids day in and day out for 2 weeks... I need a break! Hahahaha. God created a Sabbath day for a reason! There is such a purpose for it! Ha even God needed a day to rest, how dare any of us think that we could go without at least the same! – “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant… for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” Exodus 31:15 – 18… so as you can see God is pretty serious about rest! Hahaha ☺
Apparently all of the my fly away's (wild hair's!) need to be braided, very tightly... ouch...
I have now also learned to stay "don’t do that, now!" haha, yes it isn’t exactly perfect grammar/doesn’t make perfect sense but was much needed! It has been wild here lately, with all the children from different places... so many! When I sit, I sometimes just feel overwhelmed, Closter phobic even with all the children swarming around! So much need for love, attention, affection... they all want to touch, my hand, arm, face, hair...etc. lay on me pull on me...etc. What do they need Lord? There comes a time where that has to be asked... as a short term volunteer you don’t have to really worry about it. But I see that after 2 weeks here, they need more order, structure, organization, obedience, discipline...etc. they do need more people to help, but not just to spoil the children, love YES! But do whats best for them, their future also! There cant be total chaos all the time... they have to learn... we have to grow them up correctly to send out as adults educated, loving their Lord strong and steadfast to go do great things!!!
Marie Joy’s story – She showed up to us a sad sweet looking lil girl! She is about two maybe a lil younger… but she is pretty tiny, probably party due to malnutrition. We don’t know much about the children as they show up, but we do know that she had at least a mom, who was cooking, holding her when the quakes happened, now lil Marie Joy has a completely burned left arm and a burn spot on her head as well. They are third degree burns and are very painful when we change her bandage. She has a HUGE appetite! She ate a good bit of food, then one of the boys started giving her orange fanta… at first I wasn’t sure how good an idea this was! But then we saw just a lil smile! Hadn’t seen one of those yet! So we continued with the sweet magical drink… then when it was gone he gave her the cup of ice which she played with and proceeded to spill… and LAUGH! Haha I thought it was ironic that her name was Maria JOY, but then we saw the joy in her! Which was brought out with a little of Jesus’ love poured through us… and orange fanta…. Hahahaha ☺ Later we changed a dirty diaper, took a nap, and played with a new rattle, which is when I found out exactly what a typical toddler she is! Cried for the changing (just like the kids at the day care I worked for!), was difficult to get to sleep (curious, yet exhausted!), and had quite the little attitude about someone trying to touch her newfound toy! Sassy lil sweetheart! Opens her mouth super wide to eat, no worries about getting food on HER face! Prayers please for her tiny arm which is covered in those third degree burns…
There are LOTS of donated clothes, shoes and such… which is such a blessing to this orphanage! But also takes a lot of sorting and organizing in order for the goods to useful at all… Random thoughts during this process – is there at all a standard sizing in the industry of clothes making? What are people thinking that send stuff to these kids?? (God bless them for trying…) we got lacy… see through things… haha, worn out things that even poor Haitians wouldn’t wear, only one out of the once pair of shoes… thank you very much! Haha - “I’m not scared of the mouse… it just surprised me” (when it jumped out of that pile of shoes…!) hahaha
I have a Haitian boyfriend named Johnson – he is about 6 years old… he is adorable!
Convicted how I am able to pour out – serve here with all of me! I give all of me… but am sooo selfish in the states…
There are people who need help there! I love to help/serve people… do what they need, I can do that there too! Or go and offer my help/skill somewhere else for periods, seasons…etc. what is Gods plan? I realize that I am home sick… I want to be back there with my family and friends, I love having them around me, I want a husband someday, I want children, I want my own place – do be independent… be also to help! to serve, do Gods will and obey what He says to do… what skills, passions, deeper loves have you given me to go and help, to serve with… what am I needed for? How can I be You to them best??
My feet are permanently stained
Even I get bug bights in Haiti!!! A lot.....
Im prob. permanently dehydrated,
Awesomest inventions ever –
Wipes
Gatorade packets in cold water
Bug spray
I can see the women here… brought here by God, who moved in their hearts with deepest love for these fatherless children! Orphans in their “distress” as James 1:27 tells us. And now they are serving them in such great ways! Yet some days they get so busy, doing “administrative” things to be sure that the children get fed, clothed, medical help…etc. taking care of all their needs! In this process sometimes they don’t get the chance to spend quality time with them, just sitting and talking, loving on with hugs and kisses…etc.! how sad to me! I could not do it that way! I would have to always be able to love on them constantly or I would probably quit! Haha this is probably my immaturity in this… but please pray for these amazing strong women who run this beautiful place!
I’m pretty sure that when I have kids their goin to bed about 7:30… hahaha thats the time every day here that I start thinking “shouldn’t they all go to sleep now!” Cause I’m so exhausted from the loooong days here ☺
When I said goodnight to those boys… getting a hug from “Peter”, and then having my little “boyfriend” Johnson come to hug me and say goodnight, sweet dreams… and the other boys playing guitar, and yet another running out of the room saying he cant give me a hug because he somehow split his pants… my heart is moved deeply, swiftly, and far… I can imagine doing this every night, as if they were my own boys… God has a plan, weather it be for me to adopt a bunch and live in America, or move and have an orphanage… He moves in seasons in our lives and I am excitedly awaiting the next one that is just beginning…
I love you all,
Mommy Hannah ☺
