Fast forward to 2010

Random bits of Haiti floated in and out of my mind after that journal entry in 2006. I honestly didn't know what to make of it. I did do a Google search for mission opportunities down there, but I didn't get anywhere. Nothing compelling or God-sponsored seemed to come out of it. I was trying to determine whether the whole vision and "hearing from the Lord" thing that I journaled about was really of God, or perhaps merely the result of an overactive imagination or a vivid dream. So I just kept it to myself and held it loosely, willing to go or stay, but unable to move forward without clearer guidance from the Lord.

In that interval, I filled out some applications for mission boards, and I always indicated Spain as my first choice and Haiti as my second choice of where to minister. I never could forget about Haiti. But I would knock on doors, and they would go unopened, and I would move on with a shrug, wondering if it would always be like this, and wondering why I had such a strong impulse about Haiti if nothing was ever going to come of it.

Fast forward to 2010. The earthquake struck Haiti, leaving massive chaos and destruction, loss of human life, wounds, suffering, pain, and tears.

Something clicked in my mind. Those people that I had seen! I thought. Those people who were wailing, throwing their arms in the air, despairing--This is why. It was as if the connection was forged in gold between the people in my vision and the people I saw on television after the earthquake.

I prayed then for Haiti for the first time. It might seem pretty lame that I took this long to get praying, but that's how my prayer life was. I sincerely disliked prayer. Somehow, though, the love and ache for Haiti that sprang up at the time of the earthquake translated itself into passionate, effectual prayer. When I prayed for Haiti, I felt like I was getting a little piece of God's heart. It was as if the Holy Spirit laid His finger on my heart when I said, "Haiti," and nodded "yes." I prayed audacious, nation-changing prayers that just seemed to flow out of the Spirit's guidance.

And I thought I might get a chance to go, at least for a little while.


The Story Continues...Shut Doors and Other Directions
Start at the Beginning...How God Called Me To Haiti