The news once again floods our screens, we are all inundated with the views of another catastrophe.  We are overwhelmed with pictures and images from a place torn apart, of lives destroyed by the unexpected.  In our minds a thousand thoughts wander and swirl.  We go through an emotional roller coaster because we know the ones caught in the misery are crying out, but at the same time we are so far away.  We are also thankful that we were spared from being in the middle of it once more.  We must all admit that our minds race form one thought to the other.

Then we must decide if we will do anything, what it will be, and how.  Well for each of us that doing is different.  There are as many ways to help as there are people reading this.  We know that for we are a people that have more then once gathered together to bolster and lift up the broken and the weak.  There is one thing we cannot deny that we can all do.  We can all pray.  I am not talking about just asking God to help Haiti.  I am talking about a praying where we lay ourselves before God and ask Him to pour out the fulfillment of His promises on a people who have fallen.   Job 5:8-9 tells us to appeal to God because He performs wonders and miracles that we cannot fathom.  Right now, that is what Haiti needs, things that are beyond what we can comprehend.

We need to each do what the Lord asks of us as individuals.  But all of us need to be praying, we need to be asking the Lord to do what we cannot, to do the things we cannot even fathom, for He will put into motion things that we cannot dream of.  The prayers Haiti needs are prayers from people who believe this very fact, that God is capable of more, more then we know, more then we see, more then we imagine, more then we can do on our own.  We need to ask the Lord to lay His plans upon not only a hurting nation, but a broken people desperate for something only He can provide.

Who might join me in prayer?  Lord we ask that You, the Lord who is capable of more then we know, would set into motion a process of healing upon the broken nation and people of Haiti right now.  That in this catastrophe You would provide a comfort and peace in great abundance that can only come from You and that Your presence would be so obvious that the people of Haiti would turn to you for their answers so that even now some might come to know you.  Lord we ask that in this time You would allow those who can provide the immediate needs a quick and safe travel to Haiti.  Lord that as each of us consider what we might do to support the people of Haiti that we would have the same compassion that You have, that Your love would show through each of us.  Lord we know that You can orchestrate each detail just right so that the most is done through the least resource, and Lord we thank You that You would even want to be so involved in our lives.  Lord we ask that through all of this You would be glorified so that others would come to know You.  Thank you for even allowing us to come to Your feet and ask that You would lift up those who have fallen. AMEN

One Night my arms just decided to stop working, they stayed that way for one full week.  Both of my arms stop working in one evening within hours of each other for no apparent reason, for no known medical reason.  For me this was hard to accept, but one thing I did know, this was going to make life very difficult.

That week came with many challenges.  No one has any idea what they use their arms and hands for until they do not have the use of them.  Not being able to use one of them was one thing, but both!  I could not eat, brush my teeth, take my medications, scratch my ear, take a shower, use the bathroom, brush my hair, get dressed, nothing.  Anything you would use your arm or a finger for, I could not do.  My husband, once again, became my caregiver.  He took the week off of work and became my constant companion and caregiver, even more so then that, he became my arms.  The one thing that was rather difficult was my hair, that was the one issue that caused the most, and really only, argument.  If you ever think you might break an arm and you have no daughters, have your husband practice doing your hair now.

The Drs suggestion was wait for an inpatient bed, yet none was available.  My solution, tell as many people as I knew that would pray.  That I did, and that they did.  The Lord delights in answering the prayers of His people.  Job 5:9-9 says ” But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” (Job 5:8-9 NIV)  I know this-my arms did not work, people prayed, my arms now work again.  God works wonders.