Where is your JOY?

Could you find joy.......if everyday you had to get up at 4 am before the sun rose, to gather your goods in a wheel barrow and rush to the market place only to sit in the hot sun all day in hopes of selling your goods? Could you find joy....... if you were up before sunrise to cut all of this with a machete before the heat of the day only to carry it on your head for 3 miles to where you were making charcoal to sell with the wood it took you a week to cut, gather and arrange for the occasion?

Could you find joy..........if while working from sunrise in the blistering heat, all you had to dream about going home to, 1 year after an earthquake destroyed everything you owned, including your wife and five children....was this????

Could you find joy............if your soul task for the day was to carry your merchandise around the city, on top of your head, yelling what you have for sale in hopes someone would be interested and keep your commerce alive one more day and help you feed the 10 hungry mouths waiting at home that money doesn't even allow you to send to school yet?

Could you find joy.......after rising before the sun, walking barefoot through the muddy, swampy area where your sugar cane crop was growing, harvesting and cleaning it with a machete, piling in sky high in a wheelbarrow and pushing it to town to find a place among everyone to sell it on a busy market day?

Could you find joy.......knowing that your only mode of transportation for getting your four children to school (count their legs, I promise you there are four children on there) was to arrange them ever so carefully on your motor scooter like this?

Somewhere in the pictures above you will find people who are filled with JOY!!! The joy of the Lord oozes from them in their 4 am prayer meeting. Oh no, it's not just today, it's everyday of the week except Sunday! Yep! that is correct! They meet Monday through Saturday from 4am to 6am. The joy that eminates from their service is contagious! I can't help but feel humbled to be in the presence of God almighty. I couldn't feel more blessed than to know that in the middle of people who have nothing but that hope to cling to that God would choose me to minister to them, to suffer with them, to laugh with them, to cry with them, to teach them and to be taught by them. I long to be in two places at once. Though most of you could not imagine how I could possibly feel more at home, at ease there...it is true, Haiti is my home. It's my family's home. Please pray for us to keep His joy in our hearts as we are away from the country and the people we love so much. Let us never lose sight of His goals for ministry among the Haitian people. Please keep us and Haiti in your prayers. "The JOY of the Lord is my strength! Thanks. dee