Audacious Faith

WOW, what a week! As I sit here and write this blog with my incredible, beautiful, inspiring, strong (the list goes on) mother beside me we are just in awe of God's handiwork and his perfect timing throughout this entire trip. As we did our morning devotional this morning, the reading from Steven Furtick's Sun Stand Still about audacious faith was a perfect summary of our week. Audacious faith is not passive and neither is audacious prayer. Every aspiration you have in prayer needs an accompanying action otherwise your not really praying. You do the natural, TRUST God to the supernatural. That is what we did this week. We stepped out with audacious faith into the streets of Haiti to deliver water in the poorest slum in the Western Hemisphere. We fed the love of Jesus to the children in the streets, in the orphanages, in the schools - and they fed us too. We worked together as a team to activate our faith and trust that God would give us His strength, both emotionally and physically, to serve the people of Haiti. In return we have received hundred fold blessings abound.  We were amazed by the impact of going into the homes of the elders of Titanyen - we washed their feet and massaged their aching bodies, sang to them, and most importantly prayed for them.  Their prayer requests were so beautiful - and so similar to our own - for their families, for financial support, for health, but always prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings the Lord Jesus has bestowed on them. We toured Grace Village, Fleri Bakery & Farm and danced in the courtyard of Hope School to kick off celebrating Carnival.  Audacious faith with accompanying action. WOW, what a week!

This morning we attended a local church which was filled with people from many different countries. The worship and message were in English. We received communion - it was so beautiful to share in the intimate celebration of breaking bread with so many others in the mission fields. We are called to be in communion with God's family on a daily basis, at home and here in Haiti. The pastor taught about calling on the Holy Spirit to be our 'Bodyguard', our protector.  The Holy Spirit is always available to us to help keep us following in Jesus's pathway but we must call on Him and ask for His guidance. How reassuring to think about always having my bodyguard with me - I just need to call His name and trust! We were all filled with so much joy and hope this morning as we worshiped the Lord freely with people from many nations. One body of Christ.

To close out our final blog post from this trip it feels fitting to share about the family that was created in our team this week. Each day after our serving activities we would come back to the guest house, share a meal with our team and unpack the events of the day. This time was so special. We had a lot of laughter, some tears and even more moments of encouragement and prayer. Our team became a family this week. Only 7 days ago we were strangers meeting each other in the airport and we will leave here tomorrow as brothers and sisters. We just cannot wait to see what God has planned for the future relationships that were formed this week, not only just within our team members but relationships with the people of Haiti as well. We are so humbled at the opportunity we have had to share Gods love and stretch ourselves to live with audacious faith!

Blessings,
Denise & Kathy