Vivian

Vivian

Vivian says that most Haitians want to go to America because they think that will fill them. She says when she was younger and a baby Christian, she thought the same. But not now. Now she wants to stay in Haiti because God fills her heart in Haiti. She doesn't need to go to America. But, if she would go to America, God would fill her heart there, too. Vivian says, God is everywhere!!!

Vivian is one of our Haitian staff who cooks for us when teams are here. She is a great cook! But more than that, Vivian is just one of those few people who just 'gets it' in life. She is the cliche saying, "She works so hard but is so happy." Vivian has a 13 year old son who is severely autistic. In a country that doesn't have means to care for most people, to love and care for a special needs child is rare. Vivian and her husband go far above just caring for him...they adore him! Often, Vivian asks me if I will pray that one day her son would be able to speak.

And Vivian loves people! I can barely speak to her yet I can tell she is a lover of life. She loves her church and the women she is friends with. She loves her child. She loves her husband. She loves God. She loves the 'additional' children that come to live with her. She loves the people she serves. And, she loves me.

Often, she shows me this love in off-beat ways. Vivian once came up to me, wrapped her arms fully around my body and picked me up off the ground - right in the middle of the kitchen. She was thanking me for giving her exercises for the pain in her back. Little did she know that at that moment, she was probably hurting her back even worse, ha! She also tells me that every night she is here she prays for me - that God will bring me a husband soon (so sweet, yet gets old EVERY night she tells me! ). And...she told me, "You got big" when I came back from America! Great, thanks, Viv! Apparently she doesn't know that's NOT a compliment in an Americans eyes :).

Regardless of how Vivian tells me she loves me, I know she loves me. Because she sees that God is everywhere, she CAN love me. She's not loving me to get somewhere else in life, or because she thinks I will provide her with an opportunity to move up in the world. Because she knows God loves her here and now, and is content in that, she can love me truly and freely.

And it got me thinking...do I really believe God is everywhere? He is here right now, when a woman in Haiti picks me up off my feet. He is here even when I feel uncomfortable in my body as it's hot and sweaty and not the 'perfect' size I'd like it to be. He is here as I'm living my life as a single woman. He IS everywhere, IN everything. He is not just in my 'ideal' life, but in ALL the other times - even more than in my ideals.

And when, for a moment, I grasp deep in my heart what Vivian says...that God is everywhere, I finally feel free to love the moment I am in and all that it holds!