God gives grace like manna – daily and always enough to meet our need.  Why do we not go and gather the grace He freely gives?  Why do we choose to limp through our days on our own strength rather than choosing to be carried by the grace of God?  Last week I attempted to walk in my own strength as I carried the heavy, heavy burden of all we had seen and experienced in Haiti.  This week I start fresh, listing the gifts and falling hard on the grace He gives, thankful for mercies that are new every morning.  Counting the gifts is a way of listing the graces, how moment by moment He shows Himself faithful.  And He is always faithful.

1541.  feeling the Enemy’s attacks again

1542.  sorting truth from lies

1543.  God’s wild, obvious protection

1544.  clean sink

1545.  clean floors

1546.  friends home from Haiti

1547.  wonderful reports about our sweet girl

1548.  images of Godly men loving on orphans

1549.  a long, slow Saturday at home

1550.projects completed

1551.  five days

1552.  seventy degree days

1553.  details coming together

1554.  preparations coming to an end

1555.  laundry not folded

1556.  house not clean

1557.  piles not put away

1558.  team packed and ready to go

1559.  New York City skyline at night – modern beauty

1560.  a  long-awaited day – finally here

1561.  Lifeline

1562.  meeting her

1563.  first hugs

1564.  a big smile when she sees me

1565.  meeting all of these children

1566.  hearing “Mama”, “Papa”, “mi Mami, mi Papi”

1567.  all of our paperwork for our embassy appointment!

1568.  Misterline

1569.  Gretchen

1570.  Miliane

1571.  wrestling emotions

1572.  feeling connected

1573.  no power, no a/c

1574.  church in Haiti

1575.  roosters crowing all night long

1576.  praising God together

1577.  beautiful Shela

1578.  praying and singing with all the girls

1579.  missing home

1580.  I-600 filed!

1581.  Titi the driver

1582.  food distribution

1583.  beautiful, hungry people

1584.  joy and hope amidst poverty, extreme poverty

1585.  seeing her smile again

1586.  that bottom lip

1587.  working in the dirt

1588.  Nicole’s story

1589.  opening the floodgate of tears

1590.  unpacking a lot of emotion

1591.  going home soon

1592.  Haiti beach

1593.  watching the older kids “swim”

1594.  roommates

1595.  Aicha

1596.  braided hair

1597.  last night here

1598.  girls singing

1599.  sharing, reflecting, praying

1600.  hard, hard good byes

1601.  home

1602.  beautiful basket from a friend, food for  the whole weekend

1603.  Haiti smells, Haiti memories

1604.  daily seeing their faces in my mind

1605.  knowing God holds them even when we cannot

1606.  school year that drags on difficult

1607.  a day set aside to show love

1608.  mental, heart fog that hangs heavy

1609.  wandering, feeling lost, directionless

1610.  broken washer, thermostat, all these earthly things

1611.  music – a soothing balm that flows from my phone, with me everywhere I go

1612.  Psalm upon Psalm that directs me in the way

1613.  a long nap with a snuggly six year old

1614.  arms that feel so empty

1615.  friend that lets me invade her house and use her washing machine while mine sits useless

1616.  days that feel like I’m banging my head on a wall

1617.  weeks that feel that way too

1618.  beginning to see truth amidst the confusion, to see God’s purpose

1619.  dinner with friends that understand, encourage, challenge

1620.  a working washing machine!

1621. a Saturday at home

1622.  still processing our Haiti experience

1623.  seeing His grace in all these past ten days

We are able to have as much of God as we want.  Christ puts the key to His treasure chest in our hands and invites us to take all we desire.  If someone is allowed into a bank vault, told to help himself to the money, and leaves without one cent, whose fault is it if he remains poor?  And whose fault is it that Christians usually have such meager portions of the free riches of God?  ~ Alexander MacLaren (Streams in the Desert, February 20)

May you drink deeply of God’s great riches in grace and mercy this week and may your eyes be opened to the manna that is always before you, the daily, moment-by-moment renewing of His grace.

For His Glory ~

~ Sara