One day in Haiti, God blew away my view of worship…

When we went to Haiti 3 years ago for the first time, I knew I would leave CHANGED and it would have a big impact on me. Yet God still blew me away more than I ever imagined. Throughout the week, I was part of a small group from our team that built the pews they needed for their new church.

I learned so many lessons through that! However, I want to share with you about one thing that has probably been one of IF NOT the most powerful and beautiful times of worship I’ve had yet on this earth! Throughout the days I would sing while working because well that’s what I do. I had taught the kids a few songs already and they already had them memorized and followed me around daily singing them! My mouth hurt so bad every night when we went back because of all the singing 😉 Well, one day we were waiting on the pews to dry before we did another coat of stain I believe. There were a few of us girls from the group in the church and a few of the Haitians from the village including what I would call their worship leader because I remember seeing her leading the people in song from a megaphone on Sunday at church.  I decided to start singing some of the hymns and songs I remembered they sang in church on Sunday. Songs like Nothing but the Blood, How Great thou Art etc, you know all the classic hymns! What happened next brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it!

The Haitians sitting in the pews all of a sudden looked up at me when I started singing and they got a big smile on their faces as they knew the song by the melody even though they couldn’t understand my words. Then they started singing along with me and the other girls in our group. They were singing “what can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus” in Creole while we were singing it in English. The smiles on all of our faces showed the joy of the Lord in that moment. It was incredible! To hear two different languages singing at the same time but in the same melody with the same song TO THE SAME GOD was well…there are no words to truly describe it! We went on from there and just fell into worship together. This little group of us were probably 10 total at most! They would start singing a song and I would then listen for the melody and figure it out and start singing and then I would pick one and they would listen for the melody and then start singing along. As I closed my eyes, I had such a sweet glimpse of what it will be like one day when every nation, tribe and tongue will be before Jesus worshiping Him and it won’t matter what color our skin is, where we were born, how much money we have, how much food is in our belly or what we look like. All that will matter is JESUS and in that moment, in Haiti, in that little tent village church, all that mattered to us was Jesus!

JESUS was who we all had in common! It was such a beautiful site when I opened my eyes every so often while worshiping and I would see them worshiping, eyes closed or hands raised. I remember towards the end, I was so lost in worship I didn’t even know what had happened but I remember opening my eyes and seeing almost, if not, every window (they had probably 10-30 windows in this church because that is the only way air got in) covered with Haitian eyes peeping through watching us sing. You see the church in the village is on the corner of the street so people walking by to the market or wherever heard us and stopped and just stood there looking through the windows at us. I don’t know what they thought, but I do hope they could see that all that mattered to us that day and in that moment was JESUS!

Can you imagine, one day, in eternity, millions upon millions of us together singing a song that God puts within our hearts that we sing together as one, to Him! In Revelation it says we will sound like a roar of rushing waters & mighty thunder. Can you imagine the amount of worship that must be, to produce that rumbling, making all of heaven sound like that? WOW! So thankful for the little glimpse I had that day in Haiti and I can only imagine what it will truly look like one day. Nation upon nation, every tribe & tongue represented in eternity as we sing HALLELUJAH FOR THE LORD OUR GOD THE ALMIGHTY REIGNS!

Love, 

April