Open the eyes of my heart

Since yesterday I've felt the prompting to worship the Lord with one of my favorite songs. The chorus goes as follows:

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart,
I want to see you, I want to see you

This morning, as we pulled onto the streets of Haiti in our taptap, I began to sing this song and the group joined in. Together, we asked God to open the eyes of our hearts.

With our own eyes we were able to see the tent cities, the tin roofed shantis, the homes made of sheets, and the streets covered in trash.
We could see the sewage along the sides of the roads, the pigs and goats and roosters feeding on the piles of rubble. We were able to see the dirty water, the gates that lined the streets, the UN soldiers and Haitian police armed with their machine guns, and the images of poverty that we see in videos and commercials back home.

Our prayers were answered as we followed the water truck to our first stop in City Soleil, however, our hearts were able to see the things that our eyes could not. We were able to see the people of Haiti worshiping in the outdoor churches, hands and voices raised to the Lord. We were able to see the water trucks filling, over twenty of them, preparing to bring clean water to the streets of City Soleil. We were able to see the smiles of children as we drove by and waved. We were able to see the people of Haiti appreciating our service. We were able to see the affect our love can have on these people, and the greater affect it had on us.

With the eyes of our hearts, we were able to see past the nakedness, the dirt, the potential for diseases, and the possible danger. We were able to see the opportunities to be like Christ, to help these people carry their buckets of clean water home for the day, to see the the ways in which we could interact with these children and people and maybe, just maybe, make a small difference in their lives.

With our own eyes we see them as having nothing, however, with the eyes of our hearts we could see the incredible JOY these people have. Their joyous hearts are such an inspiration to our team. It is amazing to allow God to open the eyes of our hearts and to see the world the way Jesus would see it.

Today, my word for describing the day was: Jesus. I found myself often wondering, "What would Jesus do?" Jesus would pick up that naked child, carry that 5 gallon bucket, enter the winding paths to help deliver the clean water, go back again and again, and say hi to all the people He came in contact with. Jesus would love these people with an unconditional love and embrace this culture and beome a part of their lives. Like us, He would play London Bridges, Ring around the Rosie, Duck Duck Goose, and do the Hokey Pokey. He would hold the heavy hose as He fills the hundreds of buckets until the water runs out. Today, we were able to be His hands and feet, what an incredible opportunity.

To describe this day, the team used words like: Humbling, Compassion, Contentment, Peace, Grateful, Convicted, Praise, and WOW. The team saw Christ in the smiles of the children, the dirt on our shirts, the man that wanted to learn the "Our Father" prayer, the little girl who wanted to go home with us, the little boy with no pants on, the little girl singing "God is so good", the eye contact with the children, in our hosts (protectors and providers), and in all the people we were able to speak to.

Today, the eyes of our hearts were opened. We can only pray that our descriptions can help you see through our eyes, and that you can see the world the way Jesus might see it.

With love from Haiti, Team 1

~Shannon