Why Don't We Dance Anymore?

I have discovered Needtobreathe. Maybe because I need to. Maybe because their music speaks to my spirit, and I like to dance to them in my mind. On a plane. To Haiti.

Stones Under Rushing Water. That’s the song.

"Why don’t we dance anymore? Why don’t we sing anymore?"

I was in front of over 100 Strong Haitian Souls today. Telling them about this song. How blown away I was when I read about them dancing in the middle of their darkest hour. Singing in the streets surrounded by rubble. Telling them how amazed I was at their strength. Dreaming of how the rest of the world can learn about what Hope really means – from them. From the very ones the rest of the world is trying to save.

“Our streets were turned into churches” Dr. Jeudy said.

This great surgeon, pastor and Haitian theologian told stories of the people coming together as One in the streets the night of the earthquake. 

Singing to a God they still trusted. Crying out to a Creator to put their broken world back together – and their broken streets. Dancing together as a people of pure strength. He told stories of how the people of Haiti had turned to God during deep crisis instead of shaking their fist at Him out of blame.

“This sidewalk was lined with corpses. Women. Men. Children. Lined up for days. One on top of another.”

How do you find wisdom in suffering? Rejoicing in the face of despair? How do you look into the dust of ashes and see a reflection of beauty? I don’t know. But I know that I want to know. I know that I have seen it, and I am in awe. In awe of

 Women dancing in the streets singing “Haiti Is Alive” after 220,000 deaths from the earthquake. Amazed after hearing of orphans marching in white…..singing songs of hope after loosing everything – parents, homes, limbs.

I feel as if God has taken His chisel and carved out a pathway into the deepest places of pain in the world and gently taken my hand to led me into them. Into the hearts of His most broken people. Into the hearts of His most wounded children. And through it, I’ve been taught where true beauty can be found.

Lewis says this: "We think our childish toys bring us all the happiness there is and our nursery is the whole wide world - but something must draw us out of the nursery into the world of others. That something is suffering"

Suffering. Despair. Heartache. It is that very place that I think God lives in the fullest form. Holding us. Loving us. Mending us. It’s in broken desperateness – the place that we think we can’t breath anymore – the place that we feel we can't stand anymore – the very place that we never dreamed we would be and would never wish on our greatest enemy… That Place. That very place is where the heart of God lies. The center of His redemption. The core of His grace. The greatest need for His glory. It is not easy or pretty or pleasant. But it is surely there: 

The Hand Of God.