"What If" Part 3: You Were Having a Baby in Haiti

This is part 3 of our "What If" series, and so far each topic has been both very personal and very real, but today's blog takes that to another level for a few reasons as we will discuss the topic "What If You Were Having a Baby in Haiti?"

Before I get into the blog, it is important to note that things in Haiti remain difficult, chaotic, and very unpredictable. Here are some things that you can be praying about for All Things New:

 - School has been pushed back by 1 month because of the unrest and protests in the city.

 - Food and other goods have been hit harder by inflation there than they have here, and it fluctuates every day. This has hurt ATN a little and could make school more expensive than usual, but it has hurt average Haitians way more.

 - We still cannot get down to Haiti, and that is hurting our ministry on a few different levels.

Back to the blog...

Today's blog is very personal to us because of two things: 1. Our youngest son was born in Haiti and lived there for the first 6 months of his life.  2. We are in the process of adopting another child even as I write this blog.

I could list a lot of things that are different in Haiti when you are expecting a new baby because there are a lot. Things like a working healthcare system, consistent electricity, reliable transportation/public infrastructure, millions of baby books, stores devoted to carseats/toys/bottles/clothes/etc. that we can afford to purchase, relief from your environment/weather, access to clean water, access to food, relative safety, a working government, etc. 

Our kids were all at least 6 months old when they went to Haiti for the first time because, since they were adopted, it took longer to get passports and correct paperwork. I cannot imagine how much different those first 6 months would have been in Haiti. I remember the first time we took Sophie down, she and Jessica had to go back to the states early because it was so hot in her room that she was waking up with a fever every morning, and I had to figure out how to make it cool enough in there for her to stay healthy.

The funny thing is that one of my first instincts was to say that a huge difference between having a baby in Haiti and in America is the different levels of hope you may have for your baby's future. That thought showed me a glaring weakness in my own definition of the word "hope"...It was not Biblical.  

In my mind, the hope that I thought about was the type of hope that you put in worldly things. For instance, we hope that our kids are well-educated, that they grow in all aspects of their life, that they find a good spouse, have a nice career, and generally enjoy their life. Those things may happen, they may not, but I “hope” they do.

Biblical hope, the hope that we have in God, has nothing to do with possibilities and uncertainty. Remember, Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

Biblical hope does not say "I hope Jesus saves me, but He may not." Biblical hope says "I hope Jesus saves me and He already has."

When you put your faith in uncertain things; You get uncertain hope. Things like money, food, education, etc., and I’m afraid we all put our faith in uncertain things way too often which leads to a terrible understanding of hope.

When you put your faith in something that is certain, on the other hand, you get a certain hope. The type of hope that changes everything, the type of hope that makes you forget that there is anything else. Not the type of hope that something "may" happen, but the type of hope where you are just waiting for a sure thing.

I wonder if, on some level, it is easier to “be certain of what we hope for" when we cannot have everything we need to live and most of the things we want. I wonder how often I miss out on the hope of the Gospel because I put my uncertain hope in so many other uncertain things.

This is not where I thought I was going with this blog at all, but it is important. While there are a lot of things that would be different about having a baby in Haiti than it is here in the states, one thing should be the same...Our hope should not be in anything that is uncertain, it should rest solely and perfectly in our GOD.