January 7, 2012

Bon jour from the land of Haiti - the land of poverty and heartbreak - the land of God's beauty rising from ashes of a ravaged country.  I and 4 of my friends landed in Haiti on Monday Jan 2nd.  For my friends it was the first time here, for me it was a joyous return to the people that have been tugging on my heartstrings since my first trip 2 years ago. 

My sister-friends who are missionaries at International Faith Missions in Fond Parisien picked us up at the airport.  It's been a great week, renewing friendships with the Haitians in Fond Parisien.  I spent 2 days working at the clinic pharmacy.  Yesterday we went to the Croix de Bouquet Market for material.  I'm having the greatest time seeing the wonder and sometimes, shock registering on the faces of my friends who are seeing the sights for the first time.  While pushing our way through the masses of humanity at market, I could sense God telling me to look at these people with His eyes and see His hopes and visions for the people living in a land of bondage to Satan.

This is a land of flamboyantly active spiritual warfare.  The thought is sobering - am I armored up for this exposure to Satan.  This week I've been doing a devotional on dependency on Jesus.  Jesus has selected us imperfect, sinful humans to work for Him and proclaim His praise and glory.  In our imperfection, we make a mess of everything but in our Jesus-dependence, it is no longer us trying, it's us getting ourselves out of the way and letting Jesus flow through us and work in us.  When we realize that we are not able to answer God's call on our own but that we need to rely on Jesus, that is when God has us right where He can use us.

If you're like me, sometimes you get so focused on your imperfections and your past failures.  At that point, God can no longer use us because our eyes have left Jesus' face.  Our focus needs to be on Jesus and His ability to use us.  Peter started sinking when he started looking around instead of at Jesus.  Satan's waiting for us to take our gaze off of Jesus so he can get us stuck in the mud of our past.

My challenge to myself and to you is - where is your focus?  Are you dependent on Jesus or are you trying to live out your calling in life on your own strength?  "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9