9 Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins,10 If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.11 I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places-firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.12 You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.  Isaiah 58:9-12

I don’t know what it’s like to get up every day and not have the things I need. I don’t know what it is to be hungry, or homeless, or ignored. I don’t know what it’s like to be a mother raising three girls who’s just lost her husband, in a place where life is very hard. I don’t know what it’s like to be sick and not have healthcare. I don’t know what it is to be uncomfortable. I don’t know what it is to make desperate choices so that my children might live another day. My life is easy. I have been really good at insulating myself from those kind of things. Then Haiti happened to our family and then we met Tia our Compassion child and God took off the blinders I had been wearing. Then, not done with opening my eyes,  God sent me to a place that made me uncomfortable and there He gave me joy that I can’t describe. And I don’t ever want to go back to not knowing those things.

Last week I sat across from a mother of three beautiful girls whose husband had just died. She was at the medical clinic I worked and she made sure that each of her three girls were seen and received medicine for what was wrong with them. I noticed the spot on her leg right away. It was infected and it looked like it hurt and I knew it could get a lot worse than it already was. But she never asked for anything for herself, just for the girls, and then she was just going to walk away. It’s funny how God works things out. She was the last person I saw that day. So, we just spent time and didn’t hurry. Unfortunately, communication was difficult, my Kreyol is still very bad.  I was grateful for the translator that was with me that day, he was very kind and patient. We took care of the important business of opening the area and cleaning it well and then showing her how to change the dressing everyday. We made sure that she had an antibiotic and something for the pain. She talked very little but did share that her husband had just died and I know that means things will be more difficult for her family. I saw sadness in her spirit that day. Then we finished with God’s most important business~we prayed together.  I felt grateful that I met her. I felt grateful for my education and what I knew about healthcare. I felt grateful for the opportunities in my life that I can no longer take for granted. But mostly, I felt grateful that God put us together on that mountainside under the beautiful sunshine that day.  I hope I see her again and I pray she is doing well. We saw over 500 people in our medical clinics that week and she was my final person not just that day but for the week. No coincidence.

Please God continue to use my life for your purposes. I know you don’t need me but I’m thankful that you want me. I pray for a full life in the emptiest of places, a life that glows in the darkness. May I never go back only forward. Thank you for Jesus. ~Amen