All these aspects

Delays. They are never easy.



                     When we arrived it was late. 

But we made it! 

Throughout the night I heard cats fighting and dogs barking and anticipated the early bird "can't-tell-time-for-nothing" rooster crows. 
This bunk-bed rest was just as I had remembered.
It was oddly comforting.



It was beautiful!

It was so incredible to be back! 

But dang, it was so hard!

    I didn't want to be a visitor.
    I didn't like being a visitor.
    I wanted to be unpacking in our new home. 
    You know... The one we've been praying for.
    For 2 years now. 

I cried a lot those first few days.
As I unpacked the most recently packed suitcases, I realized that I needed a heart adjustment.
That...or this trip I had anticipated for the last 6 months was going to be miserable. 

I gave my heart a little pep talk because.. 

And I thanked God that although I wasn't there under the means I desired, that I was there none-the-less.

I visited with friends, I loved the GH canines, I ate incredible Haitian food, I drove in insanely frustrating traffic, I ate REAL mangoes and non-store-bought coconuts, I spoke kreyól with peeps who extended grace in more ways than one, I used mosquito repellent like after-shower lotion again, and I wore tanks and shorts in January!

Pure bliss.

I sat on the roof and rang in the New Year with my one and only (after a wonderful meal at the McHouls).

I prayed over and held little miracles!

And we even got to spend some one on one time away with our first-born (for the first time in years)! 

Y'all, it was so wonderful!
But despite the amazing things, there was still hard reality. 

This was a photo message I got from the girls one day. Though Caleb and I got to travel to Haiti the day after John and Cabila left Mississippi, our girls didn't get to go with us. 

I was in Haiti but our #6onajourney was missing 2.

As I dug through our things that we left behind, I literally wept. 
I pulled out stuff that belonged to our girls and I cried til I couldn't even see what I was looking at.  

I remember the hopes that were bigger the day we packed them.  

Everybody had specific spots where they wanted to unpack their stuff, themselves. 

I dug until I couldn't dig anymore.    
    "What now, God?  What are we supposed to do now?"

I got caught up in the details. 
I wasn't hopeful for later, I hurt right then...down deep. 
I closed the top to the box.

I tried to make sense of what needed to be held onto and repacked vs. what could be given away that someone else might be able to use while we were still in this horrific holding pattern. 

    And then, honestly, I just stopped.  

Have you ever prayed and prayed, and waited and waited, and still you see no evidence of an answer? Are you tired of seeing no movement? 

Are you at the point of giving up? 

Then perhaps you have not waited in the right way, which removes you from the right place-

the place where the Lord can meet you.

"Wait for it patiently" (Romans 8:25). 

Patience eliminates worry.

Patience eliminates weeping.

Why feel sad and discouraged? He knows your needs better than you do,

and His purpose in waiting is to receive more glory through it.

Patience eliminates self-works.

"The work of God is this: to believe" (John 6:29),

and once you believe, you may know all is well.

Patience eliminates all want.

Perhaps your desire to receive what you want is stronger

than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled.

Patience eliminates all weakness.

Instead of thinking of waiting as being wasted time,

realize that God is preparing His resources and strengthening you as well.

Patience eliminates all wobbling.

God's foundations are steady, and when we have His patience within,

we are steady while we wait.

Patience yields worship.

Sometimes the best part of praiseful waiting is experiencing

"great endurance and patience.....joyfully" (Colossians 1:11).

While you wait, "let all these aspects of patience have her perfect work"

(James 1:4), and you will be greatly enriched.

~C.H.P.