Unpredictable but Present

It's used to name organized meeting times...
It's used on CD titles...
It's used in quips and quotes...

It is worship.

Worship is showing honor or giving worth to something/someone.

So, what does it look like?

Do you have to be dressed up to worship?
Do you have to have a guitar and a designated meeting space for it to be real?
Do you have to be kneeling to participate?

Typically on Sundays we worship as a family at Port-au-Prince Fellowship.  We sing a lot and we hear an incredible and challenging message for the coming week but yesterday my worship was a little different.

I answered the phone at 6:30am and then took one of our guests (who is interested in becoming a Midwife one day) to the Heartline Maternity Center.

There was coffee, a dog named Dolly, 3 midwives that have recently allowed me to enter into their circle and a cute pregnant lady who danced as her contractions happened.  Sooooo despite the early hour and my typical Sunday plan to attend church, I decided that I wanted to hang out for a while.

As things progressed, I felt God surrounding me in that place.  That unconventional sanctuary... a birthing room, none the less.  I prayed silently for the mom who was about to have a new life in her life and I worshiped.

There was no guitar.  There was no singing.  There was no kneeling.  But there was God.

"Having the reality of God's presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually." (Oswald Chambers)

Maybe you, like me, need to see that God is so much more than what we've made Him out to be.  That He is continually with us.  He beckons us.  He wants us to see Him for who He is.  He longs for us to worship Him throughout each day wherever we might be...even in a birthing room!

Sometimes we spend so much time looking for God and for specific ways to connect with Him that we fail to see that He's been there all along...right beside us.  As we worship Him, we see Him. 

Worship is personal but it doesn't have to be predictable. 

I am so grateful I got to worship with this little guy yesterday!




I'd love to hear about some unpredictable places where you've worshiped lately!

"The point is not to completely understand God but to worship Him.

Let the very fact that you cannot know Him fully lead you to praise Him

for His infiniteness and granduer."

~Francis Chan

Update

If there was one word to sum up the last several months it might be-----> loooooong.

Our journey in Haiti took a different route starting in January of this year.  Our faith has been stretched and flexed and we've definitely been Challenged and Inspired.  The last several months have been full of twists and turns, dead-ends and detours, and no doubt some growing experiences we won't soon forget.

Packed in our truck like sardines, we visited 9 different places and bunked at 5 of them over the course of the first 30 days.  When we needed it most, we landed in a place that's set up to serve those who serve and without planning it, we've been here since.  Maybe you saw our post called Lately describing some of our time here at Heartline Ministries Guest House.
  

While bunking in one room with our 4 children for an extended period of time has you (and me) thinking "oh wow, thanks but...NO!", we have managed to heal a little since being here.  Being in a safe place has allowed us to catch our breath as we continued to look for new ministry opportunities for our family and we've met and connected with some pretty cool families that love the Lord, too!

A little over a month ago, the Guest House had an opening for the Manager/Host position. Several of the people that we met during our time here suggested us as possible candidates to fill the position. Towards the end of May, leaders of Heartline Ministries approached us and officially asked us to consider the position.

We prayed and shared the possibility with our children and then we prayed some more.  We were honored to be offered this position but more than anything we wanted to be sure that we answered according to what God was leading us to do.  We agreed to accept the position on a temporary/trial basis and we hit the ground running.

We've hosted 142 people over the last 5 weeks and I'll be the first to tell you that we have been ministered to as much if not more than we've ministered.  God's incredible like that, isn't He?!?  You just can't out-give Him!

So, if there were 3 words to sum up the last several months they might be-----> loooooong but good!

I've been burdened since coming to Haiti about the great and ever growing need for servers that serve servers.  I recently felt that familiar God tap on my shoulder as if He were saying, "so what are you willing to do about it?"  I squirmed claiming 'burn-out' and argued that I didn't have anything else to give.  I was spent and broken and bare but I agreed to take His challenge to let Him show me His strength in my weakness once again.

I've felt alive again in serving and we have met some really amazing people who are doing incredible work with great organizations in this area.  One of those organizations is Heartline.

So as we are diving head first into this new adventure, we are asking you to pray with us and partner with us if you feel led as we take on the permanent role of managing this place that exists to serve those who serve here in Haiti.

Heartline Ministries is involved with many 

humanitarian, educational and faith-based activities.  

You can read more about the organization here and be sure to check back with us to see how you can personally get involved.

Following to Lead...

A couple of months ago, before Chikungunya visited, the kids and I went to the "soccer field" in the village to get out of the guest house and play.  There's a little walking track there...and by little walking track, I mean a small path in the overgrown grass that goes around the perimeter of the said soccer field.  (smile)

The girls and I talked about walking/running a few laps while the boys played ball.  I started out and the girls fussed about who would be second and who would be last.  I pointed out that we could all take turns regarding order and then Kylie said,

"Mama, you follow Jesus and we'll follow you." 

I've stumbled a lot this year.  I've fallen a few times and debated on whether or not to get up.  I've complained and cried and been so tempted to give up.  I haven't had the strength to lead and sometimes felt I didn't even have the strength to follow.

Many days I felt like I just couldn't get anything right but praise God that even in my failings He's proving Himself faithful to me........and our crew.

I'm encouraged that Kylie gets it...that she recognizes and yet challenges me to continually claim Christ as the head leader.



We've learned a lot through the trials this year but one thing I'm most grateful for is the fact that our children have seen first-hand that....
     we don't hold their future,
   we don't always have the answers,
  and while we want only the best for them.....
   sometimes what is best is not easy at all.


"When we pray for what we most wish to happen, we can trust with absolute assurance that He will either act accordingly to our prayer...or do something better.  He will either bless us with what we want, or He'll bless us with what we really need and change our hearts to desire what He's given.  He alone knows what will get us most prepared for our next stage of abundant living, what will draw us nearest to Him in fellowship and intimacy, what will cause His glory to burst upon the stage of our lives with weighty significance, where everybody who wants to can see it.  We can totally rely on Him to take us exactly where we need to go...if we'll only be willing to follow." 
(One In A Million, Priscilla Shirer)