Hello Everyone,
I wanted to catch you up on what is happening with Bill and myself since I came back from Haiti. Yesterday I sent out the newsletter and I also sent out the requested DVD’s of my Haiti experience. I did send some of you who did not request it a copy because Bill and I really wanted you to see what transpired from our angle. To anyone who did not make a request for one and would still like me to send you one, just let me know. But wait until Monday or Tuesday to see if your newsletter arrives with a DVD inside before you make the request.
We have 2 medical teams coming that I really wanted to take into Haiti. This is really funny. As most of you know, Bill is the mover and shaker. I’m the organizer, reorganizer, triple-organizer and here I am asking every team, “Let’s go to Haiti, okay?” The 2 medical teams coming wanted to stay in the DR, which is perfectly fine but Bill and I got a chuckle out of my pushiness: “Let’s go to Haiti, people…no plan, let’s just go!” God has done such a work in me as far as planning, replanning and triple-planning. While I was there helping the Haiti refugees, one morning I was so frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t organize ALL of the relief efforts…and I mean all of them…from Port-au-Prince to Barahona… the way I wanted to. I ended up just full of laughter during my morning devotions and I said, “Okay, Lord, I have no plan. Not happy….but I will trust you today.” And that’s how the rest of my trip went. When something we had planned at the last minute didn’t pan out, we shifted to the next best thing. This has given me such freedom…and Bill as well….to be okay with trusting and going. But, that can be taken overboard as in “Okay, medical teams….let’s just go right into Haiti. I don’t know where we’re going but they need you….let’s go.” The practical side of me, though, always reverts to, “I don’t want anything more or less than God has for us.” And this came in handy when both medical teams said they would serve in the DR and possibly Haiti at some later date. So, guess what? There is a couple coming in May (she’s a nurse) that wants to spend their entire time ministering in Haiti!!! Yeah!!!! Ask me how happy I am. And the best thing about this is that they have a lot of experience in Haiti, as does Bill, so they would be very flexible to go with whatever happens. It will be a great learning experience for me and will help pave the way for more medical teams next year to go to Haiti….with a plan.
Here is the devotion I received today online: I wanted to share it because with Bill leaving Wednesday, I’ll be with Nicholas in Cleveland and taking him back and forth to school until they let out March 25th. Him and I will fly down to the DR together so he can spend 10 days with us. He is so excited! But Bill and I would covet your prayers as we venture back and start to meet the needs of the Haitians as the Lord guides us.
We covet your prayers. Blessings, Karen
GO “IN THE SPIRIT”
You can go “in the Spirit” to any nation on earth. You can touch an
unreached people while on your knees. Indeed, your secret closet may become the
headquarters for a movement of God’s Spirit over an entire nation.
I think of Abraham’s example. He prayed over godless, wicked Sodom. The Lord
answered him, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I
will spare all the place for their sakes” (Genesis 18:26).
When Abraham heard this, he began to negotiate with the Lord. He asked, “(If)
there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for
lack of five?” (18:28). Abraham was asking, “Lord, what if there are
forty-five righteous people among those fifty believers? What if only that many
are praying seekers? Or, what if there are only ten upright people who seek you?
If only ten call on you, will you spare the city?” God answered Abraham, “I
will not destroy it for ten’s sake” (18:32).
This passage tells us something about the Lord. He is willing to save entire
societies if he can find a band of righteous people within them. This speaks of
people who seek his face for the sake of their nation.
God goes even further on this issue than he did with Abraham. In Ezekiel 22,
God speaks of finding just one praying believer who will stand in the gap: “I
sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap
before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none”
(Ezekiel 22:30).
At the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy, Israel was polluted spiritually. The
prophets were profane, violating God’s law left and right. And the people
were oppressed, vexed on all sides, full of lust, robbing one another. Not one
person among them cried out to the Lord. Nobody stood in the gap to intercede.
Yet God would have saved the entire nation for the sake of just one
intercessor.
If you cannot physically go to the nations, you can be part of the support body
of intercessors. And we are to assist those who have given themselves to go to
the nations. When Paul writes of his journeys, he mentions not only Timothy and
Titus as his helpers, but also Lydia and the other precious women who aided him.
These were all devoted servants whose assistance helped touch entire nations
with the gospel.
