Hope Makes Us Live. “Espwa fe viv.” 

This is a Haitian Creole proverb. Haitians believe that you must hope, and if you have hope, you can get through anything. Sometimes, when we go through trials, we lose our hope. We feel like we are falling and no one is there to pull us out. We feel as if we are hanging on a rope on the side of the mountain, ready to “let go.”

Years ago, I was driving in the mountains of Haiti with our interpreter. I had to go over some very high mountains and our tires were about shot. I made it to the village, but going back, I had to cross a small river and then, “straight up a huge, high winding mountain.” On this road, you could not stop! There was no way to stop halfway up. When I made the last turn and tried to climb the last round, my bald tires began to spin! They were nearly “going out,” and I began to roll backward, to the mountain cliff! I put my foot on the brake and my hands froze on the steering wheel! My interpreter was afraid to move or get out of the car, in fear it would go over the mountain! I had “lost my hope!”

But, suddenly, out of nowhere, some Haitian men had come up the back side of that mountain and began pushing my car with such a hard push so that I could “put the peddle to the metal!” We climbed right up and out! I looked in my mirror to see how many there were, and so that I could stop above where it was flat and give them a tip, but “they were gone!” To this day, I believe they were Angels!!

While I was “hanging on to the steering wheel,” I was losing my hope! But, God had already had “angels in the bushes!” The Bible declares “But I will hope continually, and will yet, praise you more and more.” Psalms 71:14

Living here in Haiti has taught me how to have “hope!” And, “Hope Makes Us Live!” Have a great, blessed day, and never lose your hope, Sherry