Praise Be to God for … (Part I)
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings to you and yours in the name of Our Great God and Savior, JESUS!
I am not aware of anyone who does not have some kind of ache in their life. Some aches are literally physical aches. Others are spiritual aches. Still others are emotional or personal aches. Yet those are not reasons not to praise God. In fact, there is no reason not to praise God.
In Psalm 117, the Psalmist wrote, “Praise the Lord, all nations; laud [praise] Him all peoples! For His loving-kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!” When I look at our ministry, “Living Water Christian Mission,” God’s loving kindness is certainly great toward us. His protection, His provision and the privilege of being in His service are just amazing!
Since the early days of our ministry we have had the vision of a wonderful preschool. Last year, within three months, the building was built with the help of our friends, mostly of Ohio under the leadership of our friend Bill Wagner. We launched it last September with 27 kids. As of right now, just a year later, we have 97 kids in the preschool. They are in a fun, loving environment learning things for the present, the future, and for eternity with God. We praise God for that. We praise God for all those elementary, Junior high and high school students in Gonaives and in Marmelade. Their coming to be educated is our opportunity to win and influence them for Christ and to offer to Haiti godly leaders who will change her future. What a privilege to have!
We praise God for every member of Living Water Christian Churches, Gonaives, White Mountain, and Marmelade. Christ met each of them in different situations and circumstances and brought them to His fold. Some become leaders. Others are serving Him with their gifts and talents. One thing is sure: they are praising God instead of the enemy. Wow! Would you believe that some of those people were strong advocates of the cause of the enemy at one time. They were his servants, his tools to lure people to him. But now, “The everlasting truth” has set them free. Praise the Lord!
Another reason why we praise God at Living Water is the progress made at Highland and the partners that God has given us in the process of winning this village for Him. Yes, it takes us a whole two-year period to build a relationship with these people, to establish trust. Every day of those two years was worth it.
Now the bridge, the connection is underway. They are happy. Some of them found a job, at least for a couple of days, during its construction. It is a first for them. They see a better future is coming. So they are happy. We are happy too. We will be beside ourselves when the church is launched and the people from this voodoo village are turning to Christ. What a day that will be!!! I cannot wait. But I also don’t want to short-circuit the process. It will be done in God’s time, but I can see it is not too far. Therefore, if it is the Lord’s will, next year we will have both a church and a school there, which will be a first in their history. Isn’t that exciting to receive such a privilege from God?
You know it is November. Turkeys are being butchered by the millions, and the freezers and cold chambers/rooms are being filled in view of the up coming Thanksgiving weekend. We ourselves need to be mindful of the reasons to praise God. The Psalmist did say: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” [PS 150:6]. With that in mind, let us Praise the Lord!!!
I am in Missouri right now. I will be with the brothers and sisters of Mountain Grove this weekend. I was with those of Mount Vernon last weekend. Next week, I will be in Springfield, IL and back into Columbia, MO and the week after will head to KY for ICOM [International Conference on Missions in Lexington, KY]. I may take a few hours trip into Cincinnati and on my return trip from ICOM, I will worship with some brothers and sisters in Lebanon, IN. I will conclude the journey in MO where it has begun. We will look forward to seeing anyone of you that God has blessed us with the privilege of seeing. In the meantime, Let us praise HIM, for He is Good!
In Christ,
Salonique Adolphe and team