Simply {helping} Haiti

Going to Haiti, I had a number of expectations, as would most people when embarking on a trip of this sort. One of those expectations was that my experience was going to be heart rending. I was preparing myself to walk into situations that would overwhelm me and bring me to tears. I expected to watch those people living in the garbage dump, eat a meal; a meal that was a direct product of the work done through my Simply Haiti project, and that it would make my heart explode with joy and fulfillment.

The reality that I came to was that, those expectations didn’t line up with the plan that God had in store for me

The first day in Haiti, I felt like I had a cold heart. Wouldn’t a normal human being feel overwhelmed with joy in knowing people who are living in garbage are going to eat nutritious food, specifically because of your sacrifice of time and effort? I must say that I did not get the same feeling that I expected. It wasn’t that there was an absence of emotion, I just felt as though I would get a dose of emotion like nothing I had ever felt before. The honest truth is that I did not.

What I got out of my experience while I was in Haiti was not an emotional high that could potentially fill me with passion and excitement to help Haiti; a response that often roots itself in high school aged kids who return from summer camp or a spring break missions trip. This response can be and should be utilized to fullest potential but all too often it is not. It acts as a motivator for a week or if you are lucky a month but when the passion wears off, you look to God and say, “Where are you God! Why do I not feel you in my life any longer?” I have felt the repercussions of this cycle many times in my life; where I view God as an emotion. When I don’t feel that emotion then, I in turn do not feel God.

On a side note I do believe that God gives us emotion filled expenses and that they are very much a part of how He works in our lives, but the point I am trying to make is that an emotion is not all He is. We must lean on Him even when those emotions are not so prevalent.

So, again I expected while I was in Haiti that I would feel this emotion and this fiery passion inside of me, but it turned out not to be what I expected. I took home something different from my time there. I started to fall in love; I started to fall in love with the country of Haiti. I started to love the culture, the food, the pace of life, the mountainsides, the beautiful blue ocean, but most of all the people. I started to love the Haitian people and their smiles, their hugs, their attitude, their sense of humor, their rock solid faith. Everything that I experienced there will stick in my mind, it will not vanish, and when I go back my love will grow. I know that as I get more involved with Haiti and as my love grows, I will start to feel that emotion. I will start to look at those people and see them more and more as friends and my heart will grow for them. I feel as though this trip for me was a start. It planted a seed in me. God protected me by not letting a veil of emotion cloud my vision. I was able to see Haiti in its raw. I was able to take Haiti how it was and use that to grow in my understanding of the country.

Now all I can do is take what I experienced and pray that God will use me in even bigger ways to bring change to the country of Haiti.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.