The Challenge of Endless Waiting
Brothers and sisters,
Greetings to you in HIS name!
Have you ever been tired of waiting for things to change for the better? Have you ever been tempted to give up because you seem not to see the end of the endless waiting? Have you ever reached a point where you say this is too much? Too much hopelessness. Too much inhumanity. Too much heartlessness. Too much violence. Too much pain and affliction. Too much irresponsibility. Too much uncertainty.
I have been waiting and hoping for things to change for the best in Haiti for so long that I have reached a point where I feel like it would be best for me to remain silent. But I cannot. I must find an encouraging word to say to the members of Living Water. I must find an encouraging word to say to my children and to all those with whom God has connected me. Thankfully, the Bible has many powerful stories illustrating that however long is the waiting, God will show up with deliverance in HIS time. He did show up for Joseph after being unfairly locked in a prison cell for maybe two years or more. He showed up for the Israelites in Egypt after more than 400 years. He showed up for Hannah after her womb closed for several years. He will show up for Haiti.
Two weeks ago, we started a thirty-day revival of prayer and preaching under the theme from “Destress to Hope” using Lamentations 3: 19 and following. The goal is to encourage people to persevere during those bad days, knowing that God will eventually bring the deliverance of our nation. It is going very well. In the meantime, we must wait, and it looks like, in our desperate and human eyes, an endless one.
In an encouraging email, my friend Bethany Barkey informed me that the Hebrew word for wait is “Qavah.” She wrote: “Qavah is not idle waiting – not a waiting in simply passing time as we wait for an elevator, bus, or a turn with a doctor. Qavah is waiting, as a fisherman alert, watching for the exact moment to set the hook or draw in the net.” She added that “Qavah also describes a deep longing – the ache for God’s rescue, healing, and ultimately Christ’s return.” That is exactly what we are doing.
Yes, the wait seems challengingly endless, but it is not fruitless. As we are waiting for better days, we are actively engaging in birthday better day both on an individual level and on a local or national level. As we are waiting, we want to seize every opportunity to provide a quality education for many children and young people in Haiti. As we are waiting, like the fishers of men of old, we continue to reeling many fish in, big and small. As we are waiting, we don’t want to miss any opportunity to bring in the shieves. As we are waiting, we continue to hope that God will bring healing and restoration to our land for both now and eternity.
I want to thank everyone of you, who prays for us. Your prayers work wonders to the point that we keep serving the King of kings despite the situation of the country. Please, continue to pray for courage, for safety, and for God’s provision on our behalf. Please, please, please continue to show your generosity toward Living Water. We need funds to build more classrooms, to move forward with the construction of the Church of Marotte, and to honor our debts toward our employees.
While we are longing for better days for Haiti we don’t sit idle. The photos will show you that. But the kingdom of darkness wishes we did. As a result, we are not dealing with just the social-political upheavals of the country, we are also dealing with some of the fiercest demonic attacks of the enemy. Last week, one of our employees got involved in an accident and had several broken bones in her hand. This morning, another one was in another terrible accident, as a result, he has two broken bones, one of which is a collar bone. Please continue to pray for us. We NEED your prayers while we continue to wait on the Lord.
May God bless you and may He supply abundantly to your needs!
In Christ,
Salonique Adolphe and team