Beautiful land, sweet presence of Jesus

How in the world am I going to blog about my week in Haiti??? Seriously...I'm sitting here with absolutely no idea what to write. If any of this touches your heart, be assured it is the work of the Holy Spirit and not my own!!

I was beyond impressed with the beauty of Haiti.  I suppose my expectations were of extreme poverty and despair. Don't get me wrong, of course there were pockets of that. Despite the dust on the ground, if your eyes looked just above that, there was beauty. The sky was SO blue, the trees SO green. Color and life and craziness everywhere. When you strip away what you see on first glance...when you have no security in your comfort zone, no way to communicate clearly...you're able to see how HE sees. It's a unique feeling. This morning I read, "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Perhaps, as I strive to be nothing but a child before the Lord, I become pure in my heart, and am able to see God in everything around me. Especially in desolate places where I wouldn't see Him with my earthly eyes.

I also had one of the most amazing, intimate meetings with Him. Ever. Only once recently have I been that moved to tears by the closeness of His presence. It feels like I am becoming increasingly vulnerable as I hold out my heart to Him and let go, and the depth and intensity of His love blows me away. I have always been such a fearful thing, I look back over my life and am beyond amazed to see the trace of His hand. How could He use me? Have chosen me? Who am I?  I've been His my whole life, but only now am I beginning to understand that. He's so good, y'all. So, so good.

I'm learning the value of simply seeking His face. I have a dear friend who gives me precious words from God always right on time. I've been so stressed about doing God's will, what does He want me to be doing with my life, etc. This is what spoke to me: "Seek my face and do my bidding, and follow my direction explicitly and you will find yourself IN my perfect will- not seeking it. It will appear. It will be inescapable. It will be natural and easy. No man shall be able to hinder or destroy my work. I will create it in and through you, and you shall know that it has come pure from my hand."

So many verses in the bible talk about seeking His face. He wants to be our friend, our Lord. He wants time with us. We spend time with those we love, and so it follows that if I want to be friends with Him, and love Him, then I spend time with Him. Not with any ulterior motives- such as what He can give me (He knows all our needs before we ask- Matt. 6:8), or trying to figure out the next step to take. Just sit with Him. I have discovered the sheer pleasure of the presence of the King. Get still before Him, allow Him to be near as breath to you, and I promise: You will be blown away when you see just how crazy He is about you!