Lessons from Haiti: Do the Father’s Will–NOW

 

God called me to Haiti for two weeks to work with a wonderful ministry called My Life Speaks (www.mylifespeaks.com). I knew why. I have been praying that God would “slay the beast” in me called
pride and vanity. I have an abundance of it. We all do; it can be so subtle that we don’t realize it. Our worlds revolve around us, making ourselves look good and always looking for a chance to take center stage. If you feel that this does not typify you, consider your motives lately. All pure?

At first, I thought about what I could do in Haiti—maybe what talents and gifts I had to offer during the two weeks. God made it clear that this was about changing me, and that’s what I was to pray during this journey.  I quickly realized that I have nothing to offer God, and that if I felt I could do anything, my silly pride was talking again.  My instructions from God were to be silent and just listen while in Haiti. Upon arrival in Port Au Prince, I was overwhelmed by the smells and sights of poverty. Never had I seen anything like this.  According to http://www.citypopulation.de/Haiti.html, Port Au Prince has a population for nearly 4 million people with an accurate number being almost impossible because of the slums and living conditions. Haiti itself has an approximate population of nearly 10 million. More than 60% live in extreme poverty.

I still wanted to do something but quickly realized that anything I did would be like a raindrop in an ocean. This trip truly was going to be about God changing me. The first day I was there, God lead me to the book of John. As I started reading John 1:1-5, I cried. At that moment, I could read no more.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
This environment that I had just entered seemed so void of God. With Haiti as a backdrop, reading John was different. I was now seeing things through God’s eyes at a whole different level.
What did I learn? One day as I lay on my bunk, sweating like I have never sweated before and always thankful for a battery operated fan and whoever the angel was that invented those, I read John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. Jesus keep His Father’s will always in front of Him. Not His will but God’s. This means dying to self constantly: no what Kathy wants, what is easy or comfortable. Not even trying to understand, just do it. So my two weeks was to just do the will of the Father. My life is be about the Father’s will. Your life is to be about God’s will. We are living representatives of Christ, picture images of what He would be doing in each and every moment.
That night, we went to church. Everything was in Haitian Creole, so I was lost until the pastor stated the verses he would be using for the sermon: John 6:38. As my friend Cara located this verse in her bible verifying that it was the same verse I had read that very day, I thought, “No way!” I understood enough Creole that when he started preaching in English, I knew God was making His point very clear… “Do the Father’s will.”
I am now trying to place always before me the question, “If Jesus were here right now, what would He be doing?” Now go, just do the Father’s will every moment, every day. God will show you what that is.

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