For You

"This is for you"

Sometimes what we are given is something that we have longed for, hoped for and possibly dreamed about. Sometimes, it's something that reminded the person of us, or they knew we would like. And sometimes these words are not so loving or thoughtful... but the first week of March every single preschooler heard these words as they were giving and changed into a brand new pair of clothes from Ecola Bible School. Every single child. We were also getting their heights and weights and as I cheered and oohed and ahhed as children came to the scale showing off their new clothes and their faces shining with huge smiles, my heart was bursting with joy.

This was the second time I’ve been blessed to work with the Ecola Bible Team and hand out clothes to the preschoolers. The first time I had been in Haiti for about 2 months; I knew all the children’s names and relationships had started; I was excited for all the kids and I thought it was really cool. It's been over a year now and I've learned so much this past year about love, teaching, Haiti, God and myself and this past time with Ecola was different; truly knowing the kids, their stories, their characters and seeing how God had provided for every single one of them, whether it was: the style of the clothes, what was written or that there was extra clothing for our new preschooler and seeing how much it meant to them was truly a beautiful thing to witness.

 I was suddenly choked up when I saw three of our oldest girls receive clothes that were perfect for them. These girls have all gone through a lot and the majority of it I probably don’t know but, the way these girls press forward, how their smiles are still so bright and their laughs are genuine is truly the hand of God. They’ve been working so hard to catch up on schooling, as they’ve missed a lot, and have surprised us all with how fast they are moving in their books now. One of them pulled out her new shirt; we caught eachothers eye and her face said it all; in that moment there was complete love and she knew it, she knew this had been specifically chosen for her.

To give a gift is a wonderful to thing and God offers us the greatest and most beautiful gift of all: salvation through His son Jesus’ death on the cross and accepting it… to accept the most perfect gift with the utmost thought for you is life changing and no matter what life throws at us, as it will, we can smile, laugh and dance because Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead for us all… He died for you.