Miracle Stories From Haiti-Part 1

One definition of testimony is “a firsthand authentication of fact” so I suppose this is really part of the testimony of what I saw God do on my two week trip to Haiti this March. But since everyone likes to hear stories, and the notion of a testimony has some inherent religious (read: stuffy) connotations, I think I’m just going relate a few (true) stories to you.

Let me just go ahead and belabor the obvious a little first though: Haiti is a mess. The sense of hopelessness, helplessness, and despair that was so graphically portrayed to us when it was in vogue is still palpable and is only exacerbated by the heat and poignant odors that seem to follow you everywhere you go. But I have to honestly tell you that at some point while I was there I began to be able to see through the rubble and abject poverty to why Christopher Columbus one dubbed the isle of Hispaniola “the Pearl of the Antilles.” Call it a vision or revelation if you will (or just call me a wild-eyed dreamer—it wouldn’t be the first time) but I believe God is up to something in that nation.

But back to the stories. I was assigned by the organization I went down with to staff a make-shift medical facility in Petit Goave, about 35 miles west of Port-au-Prince and 20 miles from the actual epicenter. Since the community hospital had been flattened in the quake, our little Christian school compound-turned “hospital” was pretty much it for that area. As far as actual medical facilities, we had one brick building which housed the pharmacy with an adjacent small room that served primarily as the labor and delivery suite. Daily clinic patients and emergencies were handled under surrounding tarps and tents. Oh yea, we did also have a small plywood building thrown up by the marines for us that we utilized as an ICU of sorts. Medical staffing was hit and miss depending on what teams happened to be there at the time (there were short stretches when I was the only doc). So there’s a little backdrop for you.

A missiologist I visited with there from the Center for World Mission in Pasadena told me that the data he’d collected in surveying Haitian pastors pointed to a profoundly heightened interest in the gospel since the quake. And this observation was certainly born out in my experience. Though nominalism was clearly rampant (kinda like here) the people’s hearts were open though hurting. I had the awesome privilege of seeing many wonderful Haitian people surrender their lives to Jesus upon realizing their need for a PERSONAL Savior.

Newborn Nursery

I also had the privilege of witnessing a significant number of people miraculously healed right before my eyes after I prayed for them. Examples include one woman who had been plagued with chronic abdominal pain walk away pain-free for the first time in years, a man completely healed of ongoing back and joint pain, and a young boy who was delivered of a severe migraine headache. On witnessing these miracles, my young interpreter Robinson and I would repeatedly just stare at each other in amazement, then get all slap happy and break out in exuberant high fives. We were also involved in some rather dramatic deliverances (oh yea, demonic stuff just like in the New Testament) which I will describe in the second part of this article.

This article is a Part 1 of a two part series. To read Part 2 please click Here.