HOPE IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORM
excerpt from page 67, Glimpses of Hope, a collection of devotionals
by Claudin Idoxis, LSM Education Director, Haiti
Haiti is counted among the poorest countries on the planet. Living in Haiti is like living in a storm. We are threatened by an insecurity that comes in various forms: economic, food, physical, social. Life in Haiti really looks like a storm.
I am the eldest of a family of six children. My parents hardly know how to read. My father is a carpenter and my mother used to do embroidery. Poverty seemed to obviously be our future. My three brothers, my two sisters and I were darker than most Haitians which further damaged our chances for success. It seemed really unlikely that we would be able to be someone in life. However, we had two great assets: our faith in God and my mother who believed in the value of education.
Today, four of us have a university education, another is currently in their second year of civil engineering and another is an electrical and plumbing technician. My two sisters and I are married and have children. I am on staff with Loving Shepherd Ministries as director of Education and Child Development.
Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “For I know the plans which I have made for you, saith the Lord, for peace, and not for evil, to give you a future and hope.”
Those who live in Haiti and place their faith in God have hope, knowing that God has plans for them. Through this storm of misery and insecurity, God provides for the needs of those who fear Him and who seem Him with all their heart.
God has the capacity, in a country like Haiti, to use a very poor family and make its members useful to their community. Today, God is carrying out his projects in the lives of 235 children in Haiti through Loving Shepherd Ministries. These children who were once completely desperate are now housed, fed, clothed, educated, cared for and trained because the hand of God acts through LSM.
The tempest can’t prevent the designs of God from being fulfilled in our lives. Often it is in the midst of a storm that the love of God manifests itself most clearly in our favor. (Matthew 14:22-32). With God there is always hope. The hope that He will take care of us even in the midst of the storm. Just keep faith. Do not focus on the storm, but on God who has the ability to accomplish projects even in the storm. Let us be among those whom God uses to bring hope and to help those whose future is threatened by the storm.
GET INVOLVED:
- Meet our staff and join us in prayer for their work here!
- Learn more about Child Development in Haiti here.
- Order your copy of Glimpses of Hope here.