Starbucks with Michelle

There is SO much going on here in Orlando- and in my heart. I wish I could share everything but unfortunately I never have much time, and access to to the internet is down the rode at another hotel. BUT I do want to let you know that the sweet messages and encouragement I have been getting makes me feel SO loved- Thank you thank you!

I met with Michelle on Monday- and it was an emotional rollercoaster the three hours we met. I got to Starbucks a few minutes late, and noticed she wasn't there- so I called her. She told me her boyfriend had taken her car so she was walking there and would be there in 5 minutes. WOW- she didn't cancel on me? Five minutes later I get a call and she said that she is at Starbucks and doesn't see me. We realized we both were at different Starbucks. She was 10 minutes down the highway at a different one- crazy news is that my friend happened to be at Wal-Mart right by her. So Michelle said she wouldn't mind driving with my friend Chelsea to the Starbucks I was at. Yes, she drove with a complete stranger to see me! I knew God wanted me to meet with her.

When she arrived we hugged real big and started chatting! I asked her to tell me everything she knows about herself :) We began with her being from Haiti, and she told me she never wants to go back again- and I found out it was because of "her people"- she believes they are all evil. She told me that I wouldn't want to know the whole story- and of course I DID, so I begge her to share...

Michelle's father was a "pimp" in Haiti- meaning he slept around with many women. The first woman he got pregnant was Michelle's older sister's mom. Michelle to this day has never met her sister. He wanted nothing to do with this woman and a year later met Michelle's mom. They fell in love and Michelle's mom got pregnant. In Haiti when a woman gets pregnant she must marry before she begins to show. The other woman did not want them married. So, she wanted to place a curse on Michelle through Voodoo to have her killed. To curse someone you must hvae a personal belonging of theirs such as hair, shirt, shoes, etc. Michelle was safe in her mother's womb, so there would be no way to curse her. So instead the woman cursed her father. He was very ill and close to death, and then Michelle was born. He held her for the first time when she was 2 months old, and through that the curse was passed tothe baby. Michelle said her skin began to peel from her body, and mother and grandfather said she almost died. They took her to a Voodoo priest, and he told them it would cost them $10,000 for her to be healed. Michelle's family didn't have the money so they sold everything they owned- cattle, home, furniture, close...everything. The Voodoo priest was evil- and instead of vanishing the curse he reversed it back to her father. Michelle's dad died when she was 3 because of Voodoo and the people of Haiti- this is what she believes. When she was 6 her mom began traveling all over to buy merchandise to resale so that they could have money. Michelle stopped eating because she was so depressed and remembered how much she missed her mother. Her mom would come home for a day rarely and would be gone again. Eventually she realized she had to stop because of how sick her daughter was becoming. She said she would rather be poor than watch Michelle die. While she had been traveling for those couple of years she had met an American man. He wanted to marry her and adopt Michelle. He came to Haiti and brought them back to the United States, Orlando FL when she was 11. Michelle's mom had two children with him- and after the second child's birth when Michelle was in high school he left them. Michelle is still affected by Voodoo in Orlando. Her friend was killed by her boyfriend- and her friend's family set demons on him and he died. His family went to a Voodoo priest in Orlando to see if they could being him back to life.

This is Michelle's life. A girl that seemed to be just another ordinary person shopping at Wal-Mart. Orlando- the city of American ideals- children's fantasies- and wishing upon stars, and spiritual warfare many no nothing about. Michelle had told me at the beginning that she was a Christian. And later through talking with her longer, she admitted she wasn't. She is warped by a dark lie of Voodooism. I was able to share with her the truth's of the Bible, the power of God, and the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. I shared with her verses, and the heart change that happens when you receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. I shared with her the truth of our eternity apart from Christ. Michelle said her heart is not ready to give her life in surrender to God. She said that she's waiting for God to "kick her" but it just isn't happening. I know that she truly isn't understanding the Gospel. She doesn't have "eyes to see and ears to hear". PLEASE pray for her, that God would work in her heart- that the evil around her flee- that she would continue to seek for what is missing in her heart.

I praise God for that hard conversation. That morning I had got in the Word and studied the verse about Jesus being my good shepard. I read that NO ONE is able to snatch me from the hand's of God. That's all that I could think about when I met with her. There was nothing I could fear being in the hand's of Christ as a believer, and I wanted her to have the security I do. That she doesn't have to live in fear. That she doesn't have to live around evil. That SOMEONE can SAVE her from that life. She told me that she wants to meet again. My constant prayer is the same the Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 2. That the words that flow from my heart wouldn't be persuasive or words of men's wisdom, but that they would be words from the Spirit of God. I just want to know Jesus more. That's all.