Haiti Archives - Marissa Henley

As Hurricane Irma barreled through the Caribbean a couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a friend letting us know how the hurricane could affect her four-year-old daughter in Haiti.

You might be wondering, why does my friend have a young daughter in Haiti, riding out a hurricane with other orphans rather than with her family?

My friend and her husband are in the process of adopting their daughter. They’ve been to meet her, she’s called them Mama and Papa, and she belongs to them. But due to paperwork and bureaucracy, they haven’t yet brought her home. She’s no longer an orphan, but she still feels the pain of separation from her Mama and Papa.

This difficult situation serves as a beautiful picture of our life in Christ. We’ve been adopted. God signed our adoption papers with the blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, bringing many sons and daughters into His family. We’re not home yet, but we are a part of God’s household.

[God] predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:5)

As adopted children, we share in the benefits and inheritance of God’s family. Adoption is a legal proceeding that gives the adopted child the same rights and privileges as a biological child. And as God’s adopted children, we share in a glorious inheritance with Christ.

We who have been adopted call God our Father just as Jesus did. Romans 8:15 says we’ve received the Spirit, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” These are the same words Jesus used in Mark 14:36 when He cried out in prayer to His “Abba! Father!” We can approach our Abba Father with confidence that He hears us and cares for us.

God adopts us according to His good pleasure. The Greek word that is translated “purpose” in this verse could also be translated “good pleasure.” God delights in bringing us into His family and making us His sons and daughters.

No matter what you face this week, God delights in bringing you into His family.

I belted out the words to my favorite hymn, tears flowing freely, as my church family harmonized effortlessly around me. Singing that hymn on that Sunday is one of my most poignant memories of corporate worship.

Days earlier, on January 12, 2010, an enormous earthquake rocked the small, impoverished nation of Haiti: a land precious to two families in our church who run schools there, and therefore precious to our entire church family. It was more than an earthquake in a foreign land – it was another symptom of a fallen world, another crack in our broken hearts. And yet, we sang:

“And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.”

How can your soul be well when nothing else is well?

Another verse in the same hymn says:

“My sin—oh the bliss of this glorious thought!—

My sin, not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!”

The Lord redeemed us by nailing our sin to the cross of Christ. Through the Son, the Father met our greatest need—our need to be reconciled to Him. As this world falls apart and our hearts break, we can have peace knowing that the Lord who loves us so deeply will never stop caring for our needs. Because we have peace with God through Christ, it is well with our souls.

No matter what we face this week, it is well with our souls . . . even when nothing else is well.

P.S. The people of Haiti need our help again in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. To learn more about the work my friends are doing in Haiti, please visit the Hope for LaGonave website. I’d love for you to consider donating to their work—I can vouch for the fact that your funds will be used to thoughtfully care for children in Haiti.

(Quotations from the hymn “It is Well With My Soul” by Horatio G. Stafford)

You’ve Been Adopted. {No Matter What Monday}

It is Well With My Soul {No Matter What Monday}