Carmille Akande

The word of God reads, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  James 1:27  I always liked that verse, but I never saw it lived out until I went to Haiti in December of 2013. One day I was sitting with some of my friends in Haiti and my friend Wilfrid was working on his computer.  As many people know, I'm very inquisitive so I asked what he was working on.  Wilfrid began to tell me stories about widows in their community.  He told me about women who were struggling everyday to care for their families.  The more he shared, the more my heart wept. One story stood out to me in particular; it was a story of a woman I will call *Laura.  Laura was a mother of 3 children and she was all alone.  Laura was struggling to feed her family and her home was insufficient to protect her children.  It was a home made of straw and sticks.  It was perfect

One morning after devotions in Haiti, I sat and wrote in my journal.  I sat at a table writing down all the thoughts that filled my head and heart.  While I sat there, two sweet little girls sat with me.  We sat there quietly and peacefully; no words; no conversation.  The only thing we had in common was the language of the heart.  We could not communicate with each other because of the language barrier, but I believe they just wanted to be around me and I enjoyed their company.  It was their way of showing love to me without even having to say a word.  This past Christmas Eve, I did not wrap any gifts nor did I receive any presents, but I received one of the greatest gifts in the world...the gift of love and presence. While I am thankful for gifts that are given to me and I know that all of us are excited to receive presents, I am more grateful for the love in my life and the time I spend with friends and family.  Many times in life we tend to focus on the wrong things.  We get so b