Friday, January 29, 2010

Medicine for the body & soul...

I wish I could bottle up a bit of the praise and worship music that's been filling the HOH these past two nights and send it to you. Things were feeling a bit heavy around here...maybe it was different bits of news we'd received, or the emotional highs and lows taking their toll, or perhaps just the fatigue we've all been experiencing. Whatever it was, we all felt it; our focus was getting off kilter and we started to hear and feel it in the conversations that were flowing between us.

So what do you do when your focus needs a little adjusting? Music is an important part of life here and for the HOH family nothing gets us back to fixing our eyes on Jesus than some concentrated times of worship together. So that's what we've been doing. And it's been beautiful -- the voices singing in harmony, the music from various intruments, the words coming from deep in our hearts, the tears streaming down faces, the promises read from God's Word, the prayers raising before the throne of our Father. Wish you could be here! And it works, like medicine for our soul...our focus turned off the things around us and once again fixed on our Heavenly Father who knows each of us by name, and holds the universe in His hand.

When our focus is fixed on what it shoudl be, we can't help but see that we are so blessed...we've been overwhelmed the past couple of days by how blessed we are. Let me share some of those blessings with you:

  • The medical team lead by Dr. Piepgrass was able to help numerous people with orthopedic injuries. They were a blessing to all of us, and enabled us to have a part in helping those who were suffering in ways we never would have been able to if they hadn't come. God blessed the team by providing a flight for them to return to Cap Haitian, sparing them the body jarring 8 hour return trip overland! Thanks for praying for that.
  • Thursday we received sacks and sacks of dry food, and many cans of meat from our friends at Miami Shores Presbyterian Church (see picture). Talk about a blessing...I love the verse Isaiah 65:24..."Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear." This church and our friend Renel were on the ball. Before we could even think about things like possible food shortages in our area due to the earthquake, they had already gone out, bought food and put it on a boat headed for Haiti. We were blessed to receive it yesterday. We are well stocked for the days ahead, and are blessed to be able to help those around us who are in need.
  • We also received several hundred pounds of medical supplies yesterday. This will help the hospital as they continue to care for those wounded in the quake, and also help us for the ones we have here with us.
  • We are blessed to have so many wonderful supporters like you. The response to our needs has been overwhelming. We thank God for each one of you.
Today we were blessed to add another member to our home. Michka is one of the young ladies who was operated on by the surgeons who were here. Michka is from Jean Rabel, a town quite a distance from us, still on the north coast, but almost on the far western point. She was in PAP during the earthquake, and slowly, painfully made her way north as she was unable to find medical care further south. Michka's foot was badly injured. She had made it to a hospital close to here in PPx, but she hadn't received the care she needed. While visiting that hospital, our visiting medical team saw her, and had her brought out to the hospital here -- she made several trips to the OR this past week.

Several days ago we realized she had nothing to eat, and no money to purchase food. We started sending her food down to the hospital, but today found out she has very little period. She needed clothes, toiletry articles -- pretty much everything. She has a very long hospital stay in front of her, and was having a hard time dealing with everything she's been through. In concert with the doctors at the hospital we decided it was best for her to come stay at the HOH during her recovery. Already Michka has a different look on her face. Linda spent the day today getting her settled in here, talking to her, encouraging her, sharing God's love with her. Tonight she made her way to our school room to particpate in our worship time. She joined her voices with those of our kids...eyes closed, tears on her cheeks...medicine for her body & soul.

Please continue to hold Michka, Judith, Andrine and Suze in prayer as they recover from their injuries. Pray for their emotional and mental healing as well as they have so much to deal with. They as well as our other young people who were in PAP have been dealing with a lot of nightmares lately, pray for God's peace for each them, and for wisdom for us as we seek to help them through these days.

1 comment:

Bobbie Luymes said...

Everything you share here touches my heart so much, Jenny, thanks. And it should be me reaching out to you...learning a lot reading your words...