an answered prayer - shoes

Many of the teams that come down to Haiti leave some of their belongings for us to give to the Haitian people. Some want the items to go to particular people in the community, some just say whoever is ‘most in need’. This statement is so difficult for me. Because in Haiti this meaning is very different then it is the United States. But I do take this seriously, I also pray a lot about what is being distributed. I know that the people in the neighborhood, those closest to the church or those that have made friends get the most and I struggle if this is fair. I wanted to share with you about a pair of shoes. There was a nice pair of shoes that was left in Haiti by a lady last September, and she said ‘give them to someone that really needs them’. Most Haitians need shoes, you look around feet everywhere and the shoes are tattered and wholly, from walking around on the horribly rough rocky ground. I kept the shoes at my house and waited, which I know I also struggled with, they should have been on someone’s feet right away. But one day, a couple months later, a women was being led up to Lee’s porch. She was being led by her sister because she was blind and needed to come to the house to get education sponsorship information for her child.
She was wearing flip-flops that were almost worn through in the bottoms. I looked at her tired feet trying to walk on the red, rocky roads of Mizak without even seeing, and I knew, those shoes were meant for her. Later I found out she was the aunt of a friend of mine and he brought her by the house to get the shoes. She was very happy and thanked me. And I sent up a prayer of thanks for the blessing of getting to find the home for those shoes and the individual that left them there to make a difference in someone else’s life.