*in the details

The only one who can truly see the depth of my heart is The Lord. On the outside I do look like I’m focused on the details and background things – but God made me detail oriented for a reason. I like background things and like to recognize the needs of others before they can ask for something themselves. This is how God made me. Being front and center, in the spotlight, isn’t really my thing. I love doing things for people that not another soul knows I did. I like it when the person receiving a blessing doesn’t know where it even came from. I like finding and focusing on the ones who stay in the shadows and won’t come and ask for help on their own - - sometimes these are the ones who need the most help! Teams come and go and only hear bits and pieces of the story God is writing in me and sometimes I think it’s hard for them to actually understand my heart. I’m detail oriented, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. In fact, I’m just realizing it might be one of the reasons why God has placed me here. People who stay in the background need to be noticed and loved just as much as those who come front and center asking for love and help.

I have also realized that no one can fill me up like Jesus can. When teams come down they are encouraging and it’s nice to hear a few pleasant words here and there. But my precious, loving, and mighty Savior is the only one who knows how to fill me up until I am truly overflowing. No matter what praises I do (or don’t) hear from people on earth, I know that my Heavenly Father is up there smiling down and I cannot wait until the day I see Him and He says, “well done, good and faithful servant!” The only thing that matters is that God knows my heart, He sees everything that goes on, and He has the power to fill me up every hour of every day. He can fill my cup like no one else can. I cling to this thought daily. What I have been called to do isn’t easy and shouldn’t be taken lightly. God never promised it would be a piece of cake though. However, He did promise to be with me always and that He would never leave me. That makes this crazy life a little easier to take!

Watch this video. It makes me want to melt into the arms of my Savior when I have had a bad day:

I Need Thee O I NeedThee - Acapella Arrangement - YouTube

Now, for what I have been up to while being in Haiti for 3 months now – CRAZY right?! Our Thrive for 5 program in Savanette is going SO well! I cannot express how cute and lovable the 120+ kids in our program are. They are beyond adorable and it literally makes my day to see their little faces. Cassidy and I have known all their names for a while now. The mothers in the program are so excited we know each of their children by name. The mothers and children trust us more and more each day and it feels so good to have such a wonderful group to be connected with. When someone has a cut that needs some attention, the children are not afraid anymore to come up to the front and show it to us. J We are becoming quite the little “nurses.” Every day we are beyond blessed to be part of this program.

When we are telling the Bible stories, sometimes I feel like it might be a little boring the way we present it because we are literally just reading from the Bible. In America we have Power Points, like five handouts, a project, a verse with actions, and a video to tell a Bible story. It’s not like that here. J I got to thinking the other day and it doesn’t really matter how we present these stories. We are sharing BIBLE stories with women and children who might not know how to read, or even own a Bible! It’s a huge deal! This could possibly even be the first time some of them have heard these stories, and that’s pretty awesome to be part of. I find one person every story that looks like they “get it” and if only one hears the story of the day and “gets it,” that’s enough for me.

We started an after school program and ran it for a month. It honestly got to be way too out of hand for 3 of us to handle so it has been stopped for now and will restart in January. It was huge and we weren’t able to go “an inch wide, and a mile deep” like the projects in Savanette are supposed to be. We have learned what we want to (and don’t want to) do next time, so it should be much better the second time around. Trial and error here folks!

We are also still teaching English and the hospital staff is still loving it. Good news is – since the time change 6AM class means it’s light out the whole hour we teach! J

And some even BETTER NEWS – my ringworm is practically gone!! J YAY!! Thank you Jesus for healing me! And thank you all for the prayers. I literally could not be here if I didn’t have the support and prayers of each one of you reading this. You have no idea how much I appreciate it and how thankful I am for you! J

XXO

Tampico