On the evening of January 12, 2011, Mackenzie was surfing
the channels on our TV, and a show on Nickelodeon caught her attention. The program documented art therapy for
children in Haiti whose lives were changed the day a catastrophic earthquake
brought death and destruction to their homes.
While the kid-friendly documentary featured a popular Nickelodeon
character as the show’s host, it was God’s Words who spoke the most clearly
that evening. In His omnipotent
voice, He spoke to my five year old’s heart and blessed her with an unquenching
thirst to share His love with kids who in her words “had lost their moms, their
dads, their homes, and their schools.”
In the last four years, our family has participated in coin
drives, bake sales, lemonade stands, created art supplies to sell at the mall,
written a children’s book (https://www.etsy.com/listing/158879836/leilas-big-difference-a-childrens-book?ref=&sref= ), spoken at churches, and even gone on the news to
support Mackenzie in her calling.
Many people have told us that they are so proud and impressed of all that
Mackenzie has accomplished and the thousands of dollars that have been sent to
Haiti as a result of her efforts.
Of course I am proud of my daughter too, who wouldn’t
be. But it isn’t about her.
I don’t know why God chose to place our family in America,
where what we consider basic needs is unattainable luxury to most people across
the world. Or why He allowed us the
opportunity to give out of our abundance and in return, be rewarded a thousand
fold.
On Sunday, God will bless our family again as He allows me
the opportunity to spend eight days in the Haitian community where funding from
our projects helped to build and furnish a school and purchase Bibles and
school supplies for children who may not have attended without God’s
provisions.
The purpose of my trip is to experience Haiti and the people
God has called my family to help at a new level. I hope to bring back a renewed passion for obeying God’s
calling and gain a knowledge and understanding of the country that will help me
to prepare Mackenzie to travel there as soon as God tells us she is ready.
She still has an intense desire to be a part of what God is
doing in Haiti. I have seen her
respond to His calling and step out of her comfort zone in ways that I know she
could only do in His strength. I
want her to feel connected to Haiti through my trip until that time that she
can go herself.
So I plan to write her letters each day I am there.
Because you have shared somehow in our journey, either by
praying for us, giving us the opportunity to speak, purchasing a book, or some
other way, I thought you also might want to share in this experience. Please pray for me as I travel to Haiti
and join us in praising God for moving in a way that only He can.
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you;
your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. Isaiah 26:8
