Waiting...

The Lord has done it this very day;

                 let us rejoice today and be glad.

                                                                      Psalm 118:24

                              

            Waiting…so much of life is about waiting. We could live in the waiting, always looking for the next thing, or we can embrace the moment.

            We left our house at 2am this last Monday, August 26^th, for our journey to Haiti. God provided friends willing to get up in the middle of the night to drive us there. Who needs sleep when you have friends, right Mark and Jen?

            God provided the beautiful smiling faces of friends to greet us in Haiti as well. Nathan, Melissa, Peterson, Annalisa. How blessed are we!

            But first, we had to wait…

            We waited months to come, we waited at the airline ticket counter in distress, hoping we could actually get on the plane (a story I’ll spare you, but if you want details let me know), we waited in Miami for a new battery for our plane…

Then, we arrived.

And waited.

For our first 4 days in Haiti, amidst all the love showered on us by our Haitian friends, I waited to feel like this could actually work.

For 4 days I lounged lethargically, begged my children to drink water, held them when they felt yucky, and prayed that God would bring sleep that just didn’t seem to want to come despite the exhaustion. I waited for Zeke to stop screaming and to actually eat food. I waited for the Cipro to kick in.

            Then, the light. I woke up and it lifted. I felt hope. I felt in my bones the truth I already knew, assured of God’s plan.  But I needed the waiting to get there. God didn’t have to offer me a feeling of hope, because hope and His plan are truth, regardless of my feelings But He did, because He knows our every individual need.

            So…off to the Market! Sydney picked up Macee and I yesterday for the market and the mache, or the indoor and the outdoor market. Macee and I marveled at the air-conditioned inside market.  We ogled the familiar American products, like Crystal Farms cheese of every kind (common at Chief back home, our local grocery store), passed on the apples at $3.00 for 2 and grapes for $5 a handful. We bought probiotic yogurt for lunch and hand sanitizer.

            The outdoor market was the bigger adventure. It was fun to buy fresh carrots from the top of someone’s head and haggle over the largest avacados I’ve ever seen in my life. 

So, this post is clearly not life changing, or even that deep, but the point is…the waiting is always for a purpose, for a season. It is His time, just as much as the fruit of our time in Haiti will be. I’m still waiting…waiting to be able to converse in Creole, waiting to start some programs, waiting for the kids to stop reminding me how hot it is. I’ll always be waiting this side of Heaven.

            But I’m also rejoicing. I’m dancing over the process and whatever He is forming in me along the way.

            This day, whatever it brings…this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Malaria pills, Sensory Integration, and Claiming God's Promises

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
                                                         Matthew 19:26

     2 weeks and counting! It's malaria pill day! We tried sprinkling it in yogurt...

   

       Not so much! Yuck.

     Our sweet Zeke. We have been testing him to his limit, it seems! See Zeke has various sensory sensitivities. I could use the word disorder, but I avoid it. He doesn't need me to name it. He just needs me to understand it. 
     I can not thank enough the speech and occupational therapists that have worked with Zeke and I the last year. They are a gift from God, providing ideas, support, and most of all encouragement.
     We've been able to identify certain things Zeke just isn't able to deal with well...
         birds chirping and various nature noises
         groups of people chatting simultaneously
         eating (in general)
         different textures of bedding, clothes, chairs, you name it
         sitting with his legs dangling
    I could keep going, but it's a bit boring for you I'm sure. 
    So, let's take the extremely sensitive child and move him out of everything familiar. Oh wait, we haven't even done that yet! 
     And then I remembered these verses. Some of my favorites. Nothing is impossible with God. God may have been talking to the disciples. They may have been addressing the rich man entering heaven, but these verses I know were written for me. And for you!
     Nothing is impossible with God. In fact, God doesn't just promise that it's not impossible. He also promises that if it is of Him, then it's good. So I can be assured. Is our listening closely to God's Spirit and His call to go to Haiti (no matter how brief) of God? Is Zeke a beautiful, wonderful child of God? Then God will make it good. It may not look like the good I prefer, i.e. no stress, super easy and smooth, but it is Good...because it's God.
    So this afternoon Zeke finished his malaria yogurt in popsicle form, because that's what worked and God reminded me that He's got this all under control.
       
       

 

Packing, or my old friend...anxiety.

  

"For I know the plans I have for you, "
                                          declares the Lord...
                                                                         Jeremiah 29:11

     Why hello, old friend anxiety....I haven't seen you for awhile....
     Is NOT the correct response. The correct response being- "Get out. I don't like you. You are a lie. I've had enough of you in my life. I will not tolerate it. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."
     Well, the even better, the best answer is - "God has a plan." He always does. And aren't His plans so much better?
      So much of our life is a bit uncertain right now. You can only plan and prepare so much, whether for Haiti, or for anything in life. In this lies the bane and the blessing. We can lay back and rest in God's arms, the creator of the universe, recognizing we were never in charge to begin with...or we can invite anxiety in for a party.  I vote, send my old friend packing. Telling him- no room in the inn. That place is already taken. You're too late Mr. Anxiety. My bags are packed and my traveling friend is called the Sustainer, the Comforter, the Guide.

     About 3 weeks and counting until we depart for Haiti. Packing has begun in earnest. 

   We are earnestly still seeking support financially. If anyone knows of Lutheran schools or Sunday Schools interested in a project for chapel and such - Please give them our name! If anyone can share our ministry in Haiti with their church- Thank you! Or if anyone desires to support us individually, fantastic! We have the basic amount we need to pay rent and buy food in Haiti, but really need more funds for ministry projects, especially for transportation and fuel to meet and visit with church leaders and ongoing ministries and organizations.
  
    Contributions can be sent to our church, St. Luke Lutheran Church, Wauseon, or through the Lutheran Church Charities website at the following link. Just scroll down to the Goehmanns in Haiti...
    Goehmanns in Haiti Fund at Lutheran Church Charities 

   I spend a lot of time reading, which I will never complain about. My stack of reading in preparation for Haiti runs the gamut from Women's counseling and spiritual care to ineffective NGOs and theories of oppression and poverty (graduate degree internship + ministry = interesting reading combinations)... throw in some cross-cultural crisis counseling texts and teen issues. 
   
All the while I pray- Lord, use me where ever, how ever, use me. 

I could prepare the day long, and never be prepared. That's just the nature of it. How many of you feel like that in your everyday life?

   That brings us back to square one. Anxiety, you may not attend this party. Let's hold one another up in prayer, handing it over to the One who is Peace.