Praise Be to God for … (Part II)
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus-Christ!
As I am typing these words millions of turkeys are being roasted or baked in all fifty States, on military bases, and USA territories. And, throughout the day, millions of people are running from one airport gate to another trying not to miss a flight. Millions of people are driving many miles to join their friends and families. Those who are expecting them are watching the weather conditions of the places they will be flying or driving from. It is a busy day. It is also a stressful day for many for various reasons that we don’t need to try to unearth. The bottom line is: people will be together with friends and family to give thanks to God for His many blessings toward them.
We sometimes thank God for His provisions without necessarily praising Him. Though whoever is really giving thoughtful thanks to God for His blessings will find it easy to praise Him for them. We have convinced ourselves that we have worked hard for what we have, even for who we have become. This is especially true when what we have become is very sought after by others, or at least appreciated by others. But are we conscientious enough of the fact that we could have given our best shot in many areas of life and yet not have the success we are enjoying. So really, we need to humble ourselves and praise God for everything by giving Him heartfelt thanks for what He has done for us, or for what He has done in our lives.
During the past fourteen years Living Water Christian Mission has had many reasons to praise God. Frankly they are too many to count. Just the other day, I (Salonique) tried to list some of the names of people who have driven me from one place to the next as we are building Living Water. I was amazed at the amount of people who have made those presentations possible. I stopped listed names after getting close to one hundred people. These are just the people that I can remember their names and their faces. So as we are giving heartfelt thanks to God, I am praising Him for those who helped build Living Water. Oh! There are many people, thousands of people, from basically every state of the Union and abroad as well.
I praise God for Living Water builders like Carline Limage Saint-Fleur and Genia Geneus who were among the first people carrying rocks as we were building the foundation for the church building at Marmelade. I praise God for builders like Jason and Mike Carroll (no relation) from Alaska, for Labible and Dieubon who just a year ago were working hard on two additional classrooms. John and Jean M. of OHP made it possible for us to continue the education of the children of Marmelade.
I give thanks for those strong young men from Mount Carmel Christian Church who sacrificed their Summer to come and work at Living Water. Of course there is no way we can even begin to name 5% of the builders of Living Water. We have only mentioned a handful of people. The list is rich. The list is long. The list is full of history. But for all those builders: Haitians, Americans, and other nationalities alike, we give praise to Our God. Fellow builders, thank you!
We also praise God for His provisions. Every day we feed a hot meal to about 700 people at Living Water. We would not be able to succeed on such a huge endeavor without the generosity of God’s people from all over this great country. We Praise God for His provisions through His people. To all those God has used to provide for us, thank you!
We praise God for opening the door for a new church at Highland. Many of you are aware of the two upcoming church plants that Living Water is engaged in. One is Marotte, on the Southeastern side of the city and the other is Highland. Highland is one of the poorest place some of you will ever visit. Yet it is full of kingdom-potential. Highland has never had a school or church in its history. For the last two years, by the grace of God, we have been able, to build friendship and trust with these people. And now a large door is open to the gospel. One of their problems was the lack of a good bridge to get access to a big section of the village. Now, through the generosity of several friends and fellow workers, Highland has a bridge. It is not completed yet, but the hardest part is done. We were also able to do some distributions in Highland and the most recent is rice and beans.
Our first plan was to bring the food to the people in their home out of respect. We were able to do that in two hundred homes. We provided enough rice and beans for two weeks, depending on the size of their families. But there were a few people whose villages were not targeted and who were in dire need. Also there are some who are part of the village, but do not necessarily have a home. Those people flocked to the bus and we were able to serve a majority of them as well.
During the distribution we had the young people of the village help us doing the deliveries. Each person had two bags and went to make the delivery. Some ladies brought their big metal tub and put the bags in them. They put the tub on their head and went to make the deliveries. It was a day of joy.
It was like a new era had begun, and surely a new era has begun. We praise God for the dawning of this new era.
The Psalmist David wrote: “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits,” (Psalms 103:1,2, NIV). And in Psalms 148, the Psalmist calls everyone and everything to praise the Lord. He opens the Psalm with “praise the Lord” and closes it also with “praise the Lord”.
As we are celebrating this Thanksgiving, let’s lift up praise to Our God for He is good to us.
My friends, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!!
Salonique Adolphe and team