Surprised by The Lord

After a tumultuous and draining few days in Miami in which we were poised and ready to leave for Haiti at any moment, we settled down.

By the hand of God, complete strangers welcomed us into their home outside of Fort Lauderdale and invited us to stay as long as we needed. We began re-establishing healthy rhythms and daily routines of family prayer, family meals, learning Haitian Creole and enjoying walks for exercise. On Saturday night the girls and I drove over to the local parish for reconciliation.  Upon entering the confessional the priest asked me whether I preferred either Spanish or Haitian Creole. When I asked for English, he laughed.

On Sunday we attended a church service with our host family, Lanny & Mery, followed by a tasty Cuban lunch in their dining room. They asked us about our call to mission and what we expect our life will be like in Haiti. They shared their own testimony about how they encountered Christ just over twenty years ago and how He transformed their marriage and their lives. Lanny gave us two copies of his favorite devotional: The Imitation of Christ.

As challenging as it was to have our plans to begin serving in Haiti delayed, we began to recognize the great gift of time for our family to rest. One day during my personal prayer time I cracked open a devotional planner I had received for my birthday. On the page for January I found a beautiful prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi:

Our Good, Good Father

You are holy, Lord, the only God,

And your deeds are wonderful.

You are strong. You are great.

You are the Most High. You are Almighty.

You are love. You are wisdom. You are humility.

You are endurance. You are rest. You are peace.

You are our protector. You are our guardian and defender.

You are our courage. You are our haven and our hope.

You are our faith, our great consolation.

You are eternal life,

Great and Wonderful Lord, God Almighty, Merciful Savior.

I used to relish filling up the days in my planner with up-coming appointments and reminders and special events. But now we often don’t know what the next week or day will hold. So I am practicing to be attentive and present in the moment rather than plotting out and setting a sure course for my own future. 

As I flipped through the blank pages of my 2019 planner I noticed that each day had a Scripture verse.

On Feb. 1^st I found:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

And then on Feb. 2^nd:

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19-21

Yes we know and believe our future and hope is in the Lord’s hands but His purpose for this delay still seemed elusive until…

On Tuesday we received a call from the mission director. We learned that we must wait one month before we can go to Haiti. Hearing this, we decided we ought to begin making our way back to Big Woods. On the way we could stop by my parents’ home in northern Florida to visit them.

We left Fort Lauderdale on Thursday evening and drove thru the night. We arrived at my parents’ home just before dawn on Friday.  That very afternoon Lanny and Mery walked up the beach in front of my parents’ house and handed us a key to their vacation home in the neighboring town. Their timing was perfect since my parents’ home was about to be filled with my siblings’ families who were flying in from Wisconsin and Oregon.

On Saturday we drove across the bridge to the neighboring town to drop off our luggage. We turned up Adam Street and found the little yellow cottage on the right hand side of the road, number 32. There was a fenced in yard, a zipline, mature trees and a firepit outside. Inside are two bedrooms, one with two sets of bunk beds and the other with a queen size bed. Right away the place reminded us of our cabin in northern Wisconsin, simple and cozy. We felt right at home.

The very next day we gathered all together at my parents’ house to celebrate my brother Adam’s 33^rd birthday. My heart was overflowing with joy and gratitude. 

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalm 37:4