The earthquake, the prayers, the answers

I'd been really busy all day and had just arrived home. Sitting down at my computer I saw an email from our friend in Haiti....."we are alive, but it is a mess, pray for us."

What is he talking about, I wondered? Then my friend, Debbie Guinn, called to tell me there had been a major earthquake in Haiti.

The quake rocked their physical world, but it also rocked my internal world, my heart. Fear for my friends, fear for a nation and fear for a people I love began to grip my heart. The images on TV were overwhelming. And then emails from various friends began to pour in..... it was a miracle I got out.... I think my arm is broken, but at least I am alive...... We are too afraid to sleep inside, we will sleep on the street tonight...... We have 500 people sleeping in our backyard and another 1500 sleeping on our church grounds.

In the days following the quake, I began to cry out to God, "Oh God, if praying is all I can do, then pray I will, but I am begging You, I am pleading with you, please, oh God, please give me something to DO! Something tangible, something real that I can literally do!"

And He heard my prayers. Does that amaze you, like it does me? The all perfect One, Creator of Heaven and Earth, hears and answers.

Within a few days the daughters of our friends, who are attending high school in Austin, spent the weekend with us here in Dallas. We laughed, we cried, we prayed. God was good to them and to me.

And just 2 days later, I was invited to be part of a team who would work from Texas to help our dear friend help his fellow Haitians with supplies, with teams, with communication, with prayers, with love.

God indeed gave me "something to do"! And I humbly thank Him for this opportunity. Now if all of that isn't enough, there is more .....if you've been following this blog, then you know that I've been on a journey, not just to lose weight, but to become complete in Christ....becoming who He intended me to be in Christ, so that I can serve my destined purpose.

I've known that this journey was not so much about losing weight, as it was about gaining more of Christ. And as I have surrendered to Him in this matter one thing that He has clearly laid before me was to get up every day at 6:30 and go the gym. But it was HARD! Daily I would get up and obey and daily, for about a month, the scales were NOT my friend! But I kept at it...knowing, believing that God was training not just my body, but my heart, training me to serve Him.

And now it is so clear what He was doing! He was preparing me to be ready to start my day earlier than I've started it in a very, very long time, so that I could serve my God by serving Haitians.

That astounds me. It does. I so wanted more than a smaller body. I wanted a bigger heart for God. And as I have obeyed Him, one step at a time, He has changed me and shown me how "to serve my destined purpose".

Thank You, God, for preparing good works ahead of time that I may walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)
Thank You, God, for disciplining (training) me for my good, so that I may share in Your holiness.(Heb. 12:10)
Thank You, God, that discipline, though not joyful at the time, does produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Heb. 12:11)