I am sorry and saddened to say that the efforts to drill a well yesterday did not result in finding water.

This was not for a lack or prayer or a lack of belief or a lack of effort. We are grateful for so many people from so many places lifting this opportunity up to the Lord in prayer. We are thankful that our missionary friend and his team were willing to come to Cazale and attempt to drill for a third time without any cost to Real Hope for Haiti. We feel genuinely loved and supported. But I would not be fully honest if I didn’t admit I feel a little deflated.

God put a desire deep in our heart to serve those who have need in Cazale since 1998. For those who are new to RHFH, we have been renting our space since then. Our services, the amount of patients we treat, the number of children we nurse back to proper weight and health, and the staff we need to function have grown substantially over the years, but our square footage space has not.

We believe we do incredibly important work that saves lives and honors God. God blessed us with a large piece of land at the edge of Cazale in 2010. Plans to develop that land with new facilities more appropriate for the volume of patients we see, which would allow us to expand and strengthen the services we provide, were put on hold due to the Earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak. We were able to build Cholera Treatment Center on the land several years ago, but have not made additional progress. One reason is for lack of a water source. Since the CTC opened several years ago, we have to transported water via a pick up truck to supply it, which has been cumbersome. We have wanted to solve the issue of a source of water prior to moving forward with building additional buildings. Adding clinic/ hospital, Rescue Center, and staff houses to the new land would exponentially increase the use of water. So many things lined up to allow us to drill for water, so many people prayed, and we have three dry 500+ foot holes in the ground to show for it.

Deflated, not defeated.

We first came to Haiti in January of 1994, and have spent enough time in Haiti to know that not much comes easy here. Haitians have taught us that when life is tough, you just gotta get tougher. They show us each day that there is more than one way to solve a problem. So, while the deflated part of our hearts wonder why we couldn’t just find water since we feel like we desire it for all the right reasons, the hopeful part of our hearts is thankful that we have shared life with people who have been a great example to us on how to be resilient in the face of seemingly perpetual pain. The hopeful part of our heart swells and breathes air and life into the deflated side even more when we remember we serve a God that is able to strengthen us to persevere, and is with us each step of the way.

We are prayerfully considering what the Lord would have us do next in developing the new land. We would ask you for your continued prayers for wisdom, guidance, and faith.

This life of faith is hard. The road is narrow. But our name is not Easy Hope for Haiti, it is Real Hope for Haiti, so high on the mountaintop or deep in the valley, and anywhere on the rocky crags of treacherous path in between, we cling to the One who is Real, and True, and Infinite, and Faithful, and Merciful, and Holy, and Just, and Loving, and All-Powerful, and All-Knowing, and Ever-Present, and Never-Changing.

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen

P.S. Also, God, in His Providence, dropped this little blog post from Seth Godin in my lap yesterday, which helped as well. Maybe God is using me to drop it in your lap today.