Unexpected Blessings.

Life is all about those, isn't it? And isn't it true that the more you look around, the more unexpected blessings you discover? Friday was like that for me.


Tom had been trying since April to work with Pastor Marky Kessa (President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti) to ship necessary items to Haiti on containers. The word "busy" doesn't even begin to describe Pastor Marky's life since the earthquake. By April, when he visited us, he had baptized over 150 people since the earthquake in January, and many of them were voodoo priests that asked to be baptized. It seems that many of them are realizing that the only source of hope is God and God alone. Not only that, but he was overseeing the construction of a new church for his church members, which recently worshipped over 600 on a Sunday morning! On top of that, he is THE contact for Lutheran World Relief, which has organized a huge relief effort for Haiti since the earthquake, but needs infrastructure in the small country in order to disperse funds and items. So, needless to say, the man has been swamped doing ministry and meeting needs.


Tom wrote in his devotion this past Thursday that he finally realized that he needed to get out of the way and leave the coordination of this shipping effort up to God. That same afternoon Tom got a call from the vice-president of Orphan Grain Train who gave Tom all of the direction necessary to ship items immediately! [unexpected blessing 1.]


Tom emailed me and some others with instructions and we were off! Adrianne and Julie had just done 2 presentations at the VBS at Clarkston United Methodist Church where the children had collected items all week for the orphans in Haiti! Besides that we had some stuff we had been storing. So, in order to get this done before I leave for Haiti, we needed to pack the boxes on Friday. Not in my plan, or on any of my lists, but there it was. Once I shared the good news with Barb, she offered herself and Rachel to help, and by Friday morning had her friend Marcie recruited as well! Praise God! This would have taken me a long time all by myself! [unexpected blessings 2, 3 and 4.]


Here are the photos...

rachel, packing soccer balls...

marcie...packing...what? she was a packing machine...

barb, packing items for a young Haitian woman that we know...

adrianne packing clothes for the orphans...

and, our finished boxes! 3 pallets to be shipped to Haiti!

So, even though this was an item that wasn't on MY list of things to do 3 days before leaving, it was obviously on God's list, and what a wonderful blessing it will be to the recipients of these items!

As for me, my lists are almost completely "checked." I have a few things that I can't do until tomorrow, but other than that, we are all set to begin this adventure.

My friends, the next update from me will be from Haiti! Please pray for safe travels for us and safe keeping for our family members that we are leaving behind in the U.S.

God is indeed good. All. The. Time.

Take a moment today to discover the unexpected blessings He has for you to see....