I stumbled into a divine moment the other day. I’m always amazed when the Lord chooses to use me, despite my rotten attitude and overt exhaustion.

Don’t get me wrong, I love our Kids Life program with a passion, but I was tired. Too many people had asked me for things, it was about 1,000 degrees with 400% humidity, and I hadn’t had the appropriate amount of coffee yet when I made my way to the church this past Saturday.

I suddenly had a song from my own childhood stuck in my head, “The Joy of the Lord is My Strength”. I realized it  would only take 3 chords and a few moments to jot them down, so unrehearsed, I was called up to lead some songs. I tried to teach it in English, but after singing it through a few times realized that even my translator was struggling with the pronunciation.

So we switched gears real quick and, between the three teachers, they settled on a simple Kreyol translation, “Lajwa senyè a se fós mwen”. And then we sang! On loop. Probably at least 30 times, with kids jumping up for a chance to sing it solo into the microphone and competitions to see if the older or younger kids could sing it louder.

There was joy in that room. Un-fabricated joy. The joy of the Lord. We only had to acknowledge and experience it.

I’ve cautiously and slowly been making public that I have made plans to move back to Minnesota this July. I will still be connected to Healing Haiti as a volunteer and am already trying to figure out dates for my next visit. But a lot is changing. This move is difficult. But the Joy of the Lord is my Strength.

Also I recognize that my photos are random snapshots unrelated to my blog. I’ve fallen behind on updates. Since returning from a trip to the states in early April, it’s been go time – a couple busy and wonderful weeks!