{"id":1729,"date":"2016-04-12T04:50:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T04:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/?post_type=blog_post&p=1729"},"modified":"2016-11-11T23:51:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T23:51:32","slug":"inspiring-life-change","status":"publish","type":"blog_post","link":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/blog-post\/inspiring-life-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring Life Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

was the perfect opportunity for me. \u00a0I had been feeling like there had to be more to life than what I was offering. \u00a0I am heavily involved in church and have a strong relationship with the Lord, however something was missing. \u00a0In my mind, I was thinking this would be a great opportunity to let the Lord use me for His glory. \u00a0I would go and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and tell anyone who would listen about the wonderful God I serve. As the trip got closer and closer, the anticipation was unnerving and exciting. \u00a0After being in Haiti for just one day, I realized there was way more to this trip than I anticipated. \u00a0Little did I know that the people of Haiti would be changing\u00a0my<\/i>\u00a0life for the better.<\/p>\n

We arrived on Saturday evening, and spent the majority of that time with other missionaries. It was nice to meet people from all over who felt compelled to come to Haiti to share their gifts and talents. \u00a0On Sunday morning, we all got up and went to church. \u00a0Haitian families from nearby villages showed up in large numbers. \u00a0The church was packed! \u00a0We sat on hard wooden benches, shoulder to shoulder in a hot building without air conditioning. \u00a0Most importantly, we praised the Lord! There we were, people from all different walks of life, worshiping the one and only Jesus!<\/p>\n

\"LaTonya1\"<\/p>\n

Praise and worship lasted well over an hour. People were singing, clapping, and\u00a0 praising the Lord all together. I was struck by how the Haitian people in particular praised. \u00a0It was praise that came with sincere gratitude. \u00a0As I looked around with\u00a0my “American” eyes, it seemed like the people of Haiti would be bitter, sad, and frustrated. \u00a0It wasn’t the case. \u00a0There was a gratefulness that I noted and tucked away. \u00a0The people were grateful for what God has done for\u00a0them<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Upon my return, I prayed “thank you” prayers. \u00a0I was careful not to always ask God for blessings. \u00a0In addition, I remembered that when I was in Haiti, I ate rice and beans for a week. \u00a0I didn’t buy a thing except for an occasional bottle of water. \u00a0I didn’t watch one minute of television during that week. \u00a0I survived. \u00a0So when I returned home, I ate out at restaurants less, shopped less, and watched less television. \u00a0I also became more grateful for the little things. Hot water and electricity are blessings. \u00a0I had taken so much for granted.<\/p>\n

\"LaTonya2\"<\/p>\n

So, while I am thankful that I got to go help the people of Haiti, I also know that\u00a0I<\/em>\u00a0am blessed to have had that experience. \u00a0God showed me some things about me in the process.<\/p>\n

Written by LaTonya Floyd<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

was the perfect opportunity for me. \u00a0I had been feeling like there had to be more to life than what I was offering. \u00a0I am heavily involved in church and have a strong relationship with the Lord, however something was missing. \u00a0In my mind, I was thinking this would be a great opportunity to let […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"blog-category":[74],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_post\/1729"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_post"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog_post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1729"},{"taxonomy":"blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ezravisionministries.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-category?post=1729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}