Grieving with Hope
Filed: February 3, 2010
by Rachel Turner
Three weeks have passed since the earthquake shook Haiti, but I just started processing the death, destruction and total devastation that I’ve seen. Perhaps it’s my exhausted physical state that finally brought me to the point of grieving for Haiti’s people. For three weeks I’ve conscientiously tried to tell a hurting nation’s story while not allowing myself to think about the extent of this natural disaster–it was too overwhelming.
But tonight I feel pain down to my bones–an indescribable pain. I sorrow for the fourteen-year-old boy who spoke to me from a wheelchair waiting to have his multiple wounds cleaned and broken bones checked. He lost his entire family–eleven people–and now he is alone with no one to care for him.
My heart breaks for Lucen Francoenr, a man in his forties, who carries the last school photos of his two children, protected by a manila envelope, in a backpack. His daughters’ bodies still lay under the rubble of his home in Leogane.
I think of Madame Na Francois who lives in a makeshift refugee camp on the soccer field in Jacmel. She lost her seven children and husband of over forty years to the earthquake. I could go on naming the individuals who have calmly told me their story of loss. Haiti is filled with so much sorrow, but life is moving on. The people have mourned and are now figuring out how to survive.
After thinking back over these weeks, I’m filled with hope, even as I grieve for individuals. Christians are helping each other and purposefully showing love to strangers. Missionaries and pastors who live in Haiti are working around the clock to help as many people as possible–determined to show God’s love. Volunteers are still traveling to Haiti, giving of themselves, and doing their best to make a difference–even if only in one person’s life.
God is hearing the cries of the afflicted just as he promises in Psalm 10:17, “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.” He is calling out to widows, orphans, and those in need desiring to comfort and protect them just as He promises in Psalms 68 and Deuteronomy 10. So even as I grieve for my new found friends, I have hope in God’s power and love knowing that we must keep helping–even if it’s one person at a time.
