Do you REALLY need that?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Betsy came into our room a few hours ago asking if she could sleep with us. After snuggling for who knows how long with my soon-to-be kindergartner and being trapped in the middle of a Daddy-Mommy-Betsy sleeping sandwich I woke up, searching for air in-between two hot bodies.

I carried her almost 6-year old body back to her bed.

Savoring  the snuggles, but believing we would ALL sleep better if we were in our own beds.

When I climbed back into my warm and comfy sheets trying to fall back asleep, my spirit was prompted to pray. Pray for the kids in Haiti. Pray for the funds to come in for the well. Ask God to show me what I can do to help make a well for them, a reality.

Seems like my prayer life happens between the times of 1 and 6 a.m. lately.

Our life has been a whirlwind since we got back from Haiti. No matter my efforts to wake up early and spend time in silence and prayer before the Lord, it seems I fail to actually get out of bed, or I have one of my little ones is in bed with me. Although I’m pretty good at the “rolling out of the bed and putting a pillow in my place to make them think I’m still there” trick which usually works, it hasn’t been working lately. And sometimes I am just so exhausted from staying at 9 places in 1 month…

3 a.m. seems to be THE time lately. The time when one of our kids wakes up and needs something or comes into our bed. It seems to be the ONLY time right now where the quiet of the night allows me and God to have some pretty good conversations.

Tonight’s stirring was/is about going without so others can go with. It’s about those sweet kids in Haiti who had barely any water to start out with and now have even less.

It’s about their tired, lethargic, dirty bodies trying to survive in a hot and dirty country.

It’s about how my kids ask for “ICED water” in their air-conditioned homes while those in Haiti could not even conceive of the concept of iced water. Of walking up to a thing called a refrigerator, pushing your cup up against a little button and in a matter of seconds having your cup filled full of icy cold water.

It’s about how badly I wanted a caramel frappacino yesterday (a rare treat) but something told me no, something told me I didn’t NEED it.

It’s about recognizing that we have MUCH and they have LITTLE. We have options, they have none.

It’s about asking God to remind me of each of their little faces so I can better pray for them. So that I can better walk through life with them, even if I’m a country away.

It’s about simplifying MY life. It’s about saying ‘No’ to caramel frappacinos, movies and new clothes so that I can say YES to helping my brothers and sisters in Christ get WATER.

My heart is HEAVY in these dark hours of the early morning. I am overwhelmed at the need for water for these kids.  I am overwhelmed by trying to raise $18,000.

I am exhausted from asking people for money. Exhausted from asking people to come alongside me in supporting their brothers and sister in Christ-

…Who are desperate for water.

I spoke with a lady on the phone yesterday who went to stay with Pastor Francois and the kids in Pignon a few weeks ago. She goes to stay with them every summer.

She saw how the lack of water is affecting the kids.

She experienced going without water for a short time because not only was the well not working but the bottled drinking water in Pignon was no where to be found. She got a taste of what these kids go through everyday…

And I won’t forget what she said, “If it means I need to go collect change behind soda machines I’ll do it. I don’t care what it takes.”

THESE PEOPLE NEED WATER.

Water. Agua. H20. Or in Creole…. “Dlo”

I will also never forget the day after the generator broke (that pumped the water) in June while we were in Haiti.  Denny left early that morning with Francois and Madam to try make the 6-hour round trip drive to the nearest big city to try and get the generator fixed. Betsy, Bella and I also left early that morning to go help some friends down the road with some very sick babies.

When Betsy, Bella and I pulled into the compound around 6 p.m. the kids came running up to our car yelling, “Dlo! Dlo! Dlo!” “Madam Denny, ou gen dlo? Nou bezwen dlo si vou ple”

“Mrs. Denny! Water! Water! Water! Do you have water? We need water please!”

Holding back tears I quickly realized these kids hadn’t had a sip of water ALL. DAY.  It was blazing hot and terribly humid and these kids were THIRSTY.

I quickly ran into kitchen where we had some bottled water and brought out bottle after bottle after bottle. Watching the older kids each grab a bottle and start pouring it into the other kids’ mouths, making sure the little ones got the first sip…ending with themselves.

It was a scene I will never forget. Etched forever into my heart and mind.

The olders helping the youngers.

Those WITH helping those WITHOUT.

Putting others before yourself.

You guys, let’s be honest. We have SO MUCH FLIPPIN’ STUFF. We aren’t worrying about getting water to drink, we are worrying about how long the line will be at Starbucks. We are mad that our ice machine is broken and that we might have to manually flip the ice cubes out of their tray, and then God forbid fill the trays back up again.

WE HAVE SO MUCH STUFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

I found myself asking God just a few hours ago, “What can I do?”

What can I give when I feel like we’re barely making it financially as it is?

How do I get people to GIVE?

Now this may sound like crazy talk but here are some things that popped into my mind:

  1. Sell my wedding ring. I don’t NEED a wedding ring. I’m serious.
  2. Vow to only drink water until the well is finished. As an act of fasting. To help me to remember to stand with and pray for my brothers and sisters in Haiti.
  3. Sell things on Craigslist.
  4. Keep asking, begging and praying for people’s hearts to be moved to come alongside us in raising money for the well.

Then a few verses popped into my head from the book of James:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without daily clothes or food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm and well fed’ but does nothing about their physical needs, WHAT GOOD IS IT?! In the same way, faith, by itself it not accompanied by deeds, is DEAD.”

“Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

“Take care of orphans and widows in their distress”

Would you please join me in loving our brothers and sisters in Haiti?

Would you please join me in taking the word of God seriously and taking care of these orphans? Putting our faith in action?

We only need $3,161 to complete the well project!

This can look like one big donation or like a lot of people working together giving whatever they can. Pushing themselves outside of their comfort zones to live with less so that they can give more.

Can you give?

Can you sell something and give that money?

Can you ask your friends to give?

Will you join us?!

 

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