I have seen many people turning to prayer as their last
and only option--it should be a first choice and best choice. It does change
things. I'll give you an example. My family has been sharing about more and
more of their experiences. You can't tell about all the trials in a disaster
like this at one time. Things keep coming out as time goes by. That first
night after the quake, it was supposed to rain. The forecasts all predicted it
and the Haitians said that the temperature and sky all indicated that it should
have rained. Can you imagine if that would have happened? There were so many
buried but still alive, the dust everywhere, and even the ones saved were
sleeping outside and still in shock. It is cold for Haiti right now and rain
would have killed many more people. My family said that their whole
neighborhood who was outside that night prayed and prayed for the clouds to go
away--as I'm sure many, many others did. It started to sprinkle just a little
and everyone lifted their hands and shouted praises and supplications--and it
didn't rain at all in Port that night or any other night since then. My sister,
lifting up her hands as she recounted this, said that the clouds opened up and
the stars showed over the whole sky. Amazing! God is good.
My nephew Louine, that was buried under his school,
still suffers from the shakes. He can't sleep through the night. But, his
story is a story of grace. He was on the second story of a 3-story building.
His class room faced the street. He was sitting in his desk when he felt the
earthquake start. He stood up immediately. It didn't take long for the
building to collapse. He fell onto his desk instead of being crushed in it like
others of his classmates were. But, when the quake ended his head was resting
on the folding chair and one arm was under his desk and the ceiling of the 3rd
floor was less than a foot above his head. He couldn't even sit up or turn his
body at all. For a long time, the students didn't even know that it was a
earthquake, they thought that only their building had fallen. But, after a lot
of time had passed and no one arrived to help, they believed it had to be a
quake and the whole city was affected. They knew they had to help themselves.
It was already dark by this time and they only had the light from their phones.
They couldn't call anyone. The ones that were still living encouraged each
other not to cry or loose hope. They touched hands or feet or any part of the
body, if possible, and sang hymns to keep their courage up. At around 9:00 PM,
their professor, who was talking up to that point, passed away. He was
'sitting' right behind Louine. Then the students nearest the door were able to
move the broken chalkboard to clear a hole near the doorway. It took a lot of
painstaking work with their bare hands to clear even a small space. As each
person was freed, it opened a small route to reach the others. Louine was one
of the last. He is a tall young man and the hole wasn't big enough for him. He
had to take the rubble and make the hole larger. By this time, there were
people that were helping from the outside. And he made it out. One of the
things that struck me the most is when he talks about the period of time when he
was waiting for the others to get out. The cement ceiling was less than a foot
away but it kept descending. Louine says that he kept passing his hand over his
head to see how close the ceiling was to him. When his turn came, the ceiling
was resting on his forehead. When he got out, the first people he saw were his
dad and our cousin. They had arrived at the same moment that Louine left the
building. Praise the Lord! Louine attributes his class being saved because
they prayed together. The class next to his had many who survived the initial
collapse but they panicked. Louine said his class mates tried to help them to
be calm and pray and not to scream but they couldn't seem to stop. After a
couple of hours, these students succumbed to shock and their injuries. No one
was able to leave. Louine also prays that his professor was able to turn to God
in his last moments because he cursed and mocked his students efforts to pray.
But, Louine emphasizes that God can change hearts, even at the last moment.
When one of his fellow classmates broke down, the rest of the class was able to
sing and pray for them. In this way, they were able to stay encouraged and
united. Louine thinks that 12-13 students were able to walk out of the rubble
and 8-9 had to carried out of the building. Three students died instantly and
the professor died after several hours. In all the classes, Louine's had the
most survivors. Again, he attributes it to God's grace. The earthquake was at
4:45PM and Louine left the building at 10:30PM. Others followed him until into
the early morning hours. Louine didn't leave the scene right away. He knew how
the shock left so many tremendously thirsty. He and others went to find water
and lowered it to the trapped students below. He believes that saved many
others.
Louine wants me to say this to you: I want to tell my
story because I didn't know for a long time whether I would die or not. I
checked the time on my phone often so as to know the time of my death. But,
there came a moment when God spoke to me. He said, 'You will not die, I want to
show you my greatness.' Louine says it is for this reason that he not only
wants to tell his story, but is able. I can attest to that as he is sitting
beside me shaking. I pray that remembering God's grace and love in the midst of
all the horror will heal him as nothing else can. He pleads with you to never
stop praying because God does not allow anything to happen for nothing. God
gives VICTORY.
God bless you, Kristie
P.S. I just got back from youth group. The kids are
going to go and pray and visit with as many families who have lost sons or
daughters as they can. They are going to offer to wash clothes or clean the
yard or whatever. They are also taking up an offering themselves. Many of them
will be lucky to offer $.25 but it will be a beautiful and rich offering in
God's sight.