Okay, so I was having some quiet time this morning and it’s pretty cool of God to show us how things all fit together—the Bible is His story from the beginning, and we are just a continuance of all that he’s already done and will continue to do. I love how God shows us the right things at the right times and that the Bible is so dynamic that we can see new meaning in scriptures we’ve read dozens of times over. And also how things written thousands of years ago are still so relevant today. That happened this morning…
So a little background—I have been doing Beth Moore’s “A Woman’s Heart, God’s Tabernacle.” It’s very good. I am learning a lot and I am enjoying the ways God is speaking to me through it. But I digress… my study is on Thursday mornings and last week, knowing I would miss 2 Thursdays for Haiti trip, I didn’t really push to get it done. Well, actually, full transparency here—I didn’t get ANY of it done for last week. I finally got to it today and it was all about when God, after giving and giving and giving to his children in the wilderness, finally asks them and allows them to give back. He asks that anyone who is willing to give their fine things (gold, silver, gems, expensive cloth, etc…) and he asks anyone who is skilled to give freely of their work.
This is a concept that has been solidifying in my life lately. I read a book about a week or so ago called, “Always Room at the Inn” and it was basically just a local (Raleigh) woman’s journal of spending Christmas time in Haiti a few years ago working at St. Joesph’s home for boys. It was a quick short read and pretty accurately describes much that happens in Haiti. I’m just babbling at this point again… Anyway, there was one paragraph that really struck me and since I don’t have it here with me now, I will have to paraphrase. It basically was just the prayer of this woman after she had returned from Cite Soleil (the largest and most dangerous slum in the Haiti). She was crying out to God and just trying to understand. She said something like, “God I know that you have created this world with ENOUGH. God help us figure out how to disperse what you’ve given us so that there doesn’t have to be a Cite Soleil, so that there can be peace on earth and good will to all men.”
We’ve been having meetings since we’ve been here—talking catching up about all the things going on here and planning for the future. My soul is just overwhelmed with the depth of need. Everywhere we go it’s just need after need after need. Every time your vehicle stops, there are children (and adults) with open hands begging. And you want to help, but you can’t do everything. And even though I feel like we are fully invested in the Haitian Children’s Home, I am always convicted when I come here that God wants more from us—more from our family. But here’s the rub—even if we (the Mangine's) moved here and gave every cent we had to those in need… it just wouldn’t be enough. What God needs from ALL of us, is people who are not just willing to give of themselves out of obligation, but who are so grateful for what he’s done in their lives that it is their JOY to give and serve both generously and sacrificially.
We’ve had a lot of people talk to us recently about why we’d chose to bring our kids here with us. And the truth is—it’s a good question. This is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. There are real situations with sanitation, clean water, disease, etc. It’s hot here. There’s no AC. There are some risks… but here’s the deal—it is not really a sacrifice. We love it here so much that we want to share this with our family. We wanted to bring them because we want them to grow up knowing that this is why we were put here on earth. This is why God has blessed us by allowing us to be born in the richest country in the world. God has put us here “for such a time as this.”
Last night we spent hours working on our organizational flow chart. Talking about all the schools, churches, orphanages, outreaches, etc that HCH is involved with here in Haiti. It will blow your mind once we get it up on the website. It’s so awesome. But it’s also REALLY scary. We do NOT have regular funding for all of this—and we just are trusting God each and every month to meet our needs and the needs of the schools, churches, orphanages, outreaches and families we support.
And it’s not just all about funding… The Israelites gave of themselves. ANYONE who was skilled in a particular trade gave of themselves—their time and skills. Exodus 35: 10 says, “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded.”
And then look what happened.
Exodus 35:2-7
“Then Moses summoned .... every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work and said to Moses, "The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done." Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: "No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary." And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.”
Oh Lord… let it be so here too.
