Hey people!
This is my second trip to the Mole and each time God has done something different. I am so heart-broken that I have to leave. I have shed my tears and there are more to be shed. My heart is for these kids. The Bible says that to enter the kingdom, we must have the heart of a child. Kids, whether they are here in Haiti, in America, or anywhere else in the world, they are our future. God cherishes them just as much, or maybe even more than us adults. They love without caring. They love without any expectation of getting something in return. Kids love with everything they have and if we do not cherish them like God does then what are we doing? How are we raising the next generation? As you continue reading know that God protects. He comforts. He heals. God is bigger than anything we go through. He is working here in Haiti while He works all around the world.
This morning I woke up and came up to the place where we eat to prepare myself for the devotion I was giving that morning and the rest of the day. As I was reading Hebrews 11, I heard a woman yelling at her children. I then heard her run inside, and once inside I then heard a little boy screaming and crying. I heard the sound of a whip (or branch). The woman was beating this innocent child. She was choosing to make this child suffer.
There is a point in punishment when it becomes abuse, and that scream was beyond the point of just being in trouble. Every morning I have been here, I have watched this woman yell and scream at her two boys. This morning I heard audible evidence that this woman abuses her boys. Words can not describe how heart-broken I was to hear that scream. I don’t understand how one person can treat a child with such little love. It breaks my heart to think that this is “normal” in Haiti. In this culture, children are the lowest of the low. Kids don’t matter to some people, but they matter to God. They matter to our creator. They matter to me.
These kids don’t know what it feels like to be loved. They don’t know the joy of getting to play with their dad or mom. They don’t know they matter. Who is there to tell them they matter? Who is stopping the abuse? I hear these screams and it resonates in my head. We came here to be the hands, feet, and face of Christ but when I hear those screams I wonder how much we are even doing. It breaks my heart to think that even when I leave I will still be hearing the screams of these children.
I have been apart of VBS for the past two days and it has blessed my heart so much. To see the faces of these children light up brings joy to my heart. All we did during these programs was share the story of David and Goliath, sing some songs, and play with them, but it brought them and me so much joy to spend quality time with these people. In Hebrews 11 it says that many of the men in the Bible never saw what God promised them. They never got to witness the greatness of God’s promise. Going to these VBS’s and reaching out to these people is just like those situations in the Bible. The men of the Bible had faith. They trusted in God’s plan and even though they never say the promise they knew it would happen. I have faith for these people. I trust that God’s plan is greater than my own. I may feel as though I can’t do anything for these people, but me being here with this team and being the face of Christ is all part of God’s greater plan.
I believe that sometimes we get overwhelmed by circumstances because it reminds us to lean on Him. He wants us to go to Him with EVERYTHING. No matter how much the world throws at you, no matter how much you want to give up, God is ALWAYS there. He wants us to cry out to Him. He wants us to completely fall in love with Him. He wants us to completely go to Him for anything, big or small. I leave you with this, trust in what God has for you. Know that God’s plan is greater than your own. It breaks my here to have to leave, but I know that God isn’t leaving just because we are. He continues to do work 24/7. He is working in my life, He will continue to work in and through the kids of Haiti, and He is working in yours.
Be Blessed and Be a Blessing,
Kathryn Truckenmiller
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Please feel free to leave comments. We will read them each night.
