Praying in Faith

In the spring of 2004 I went with a mission team to Haiti to look at some projects that the mission's agency NDI was involved in. While we were there we got to know a young man named Michaux Pierre. Michaux lived with his mom and if I remember correctly about 10 other brothers and sisters. His home had recently washed away during some rain storms and he was really begging us to help rebuild it. It was a one room cinder block structure about 8x10 feet with a hole in one corner of the floor as a toilet.


Of course they had no money and all of them were sleeping in a nearby "house" with several other children.





NDI was swamped with requests for aid and this was really not even something that could be considered but we decided to ask our local church for help when we returned home.
We told Michaux that we would see what we could do and maybe on our next trip we would try and help out.

We came back in October and some of the members of our church had given money to help rebuild the house but as we considered the overwhelming needs of so many other people in the area the team leadership decided that the house might not be the best use of the money. We knew the folks back home would understand.

We decided to tell Michaux that we were sorry but we just could not justify rebuilding the house when we had so many other more important requests for assistance. I will never forget Michaux's face when we told him the bad news. I can still see it vividly 5 years later. He looked at me with tears streaming down his face and said "but I prayed for it". Michaux was a new Christian with all of the confidence in the world that the Lord answers prayers. He knew that it would happen if he prayed for it to happen.

Nevertheless, we told him that we just could not do it and he left in a very dejected.

That night our team leader was up praying and reading Scripture much of the night trying to think things through and the next morning he came to me and said he had really been convicted to reconsider helping Michaux. He asked me what I thought and I showed him a verse that I am sure God led me to in my morning devotions

" And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Gal 6:9-10

We decided to go ahead with building the house.

I cannot find pictures of the house when it was completed but it was just a very simple block structure with no furniture. The family was able to move back in and Michaux knew that God had answered his prayer.

I do not know how prayer works. I have given up trying to figure it out. If Michaux had not told us he had prayed for it would we have built it? We will never know. If he had not gotten so emotional would we have built it? We will never know. Did he pray, did the house get built? Yes. That is all he needed to know. That is all I need to know.