Psalm 128:1 NIV
Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.
I did not want or long to return to Haiti. But here I sit, on the shore of the ocean in a town just south of St. Mark's, Haiti waiting for a small boat to take me to the island of La Gonave. I am listening to people on my team talk about how much they looked forward to coming. Some of these people have been on trips here time and again and look forward with anticipation to their return. I am not one of them.
Bending my will to God's will is ...well....not a strength of mine. It has come, like Jacob, with a wrestling- a brokenness that had to occur, not of my hip -like Jacob- but of my heart. Both spiritually and physically my heart was broken to do His will. It sounds quite pious when spoken out loud, or written down, but that's just the truth of it. Obedience is not something most adult Americans do easily. I am not the exception. We are taught from a young age that "we deserve a break". Just yesterday I heard someone say that we have the "right" to be happy.
That is not what God says.
God says if I do His will, seek His kingdom, feed His children HE can use me to His purpose. That's a different kind of purpose driven life, indeed.
So this morning I am looking out over an ocean, listening to the waves hit the shore. Don't imagine sandy beaches or tropical fruit in your mind's eye. Imagine the Caribbean, pristine and beautiful but the houses dotted in the area are not 4 or 5 star hotels or fancy seaside restaurants. They are unfinished-rebar sticking from the roofs, cement squares. Some have roofs, other do not. Very few have glass or screens in the window openings.
Across the bay, a small boat bounces up and down struggling against the rolling waves to head toward the shore. Imagine that you've been watching that boat struggle for 30 minutes and still it's so far out that another 30 will pass before you meet the crew. The sail is a ragged piece of fabric held to the mast by a rope. Repaired in several places the sail helps move the boat on, along with the motor which is chugging under the strain of the weight of the boat and her passengers.
The trip across the water today took about an hour and a half. The captain mercifully cut the engine near the top of the waves to help diminish the splash of the waves into the boat. To say I was drenched does not begin to describe it. What a great adventure!
My husband and I have been discussing the possibility of taking a Carrebean cruise later this year. This is definitely NOT the Princess cruise that I was expecting, but it is the Princess cruise God was set in motion. This boat is full of Warrior Princes and Princesses of God.
Oh praise Him and His glorious plan.
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