Thankfulness Through Heartache

Dominique Etienne lives with his wife of fifteen years, Sarah, and their three children in Petionville, Haiti.

A strong Christian wanting to spread God’s love, he began to volunteer with the French outreach of Back to God Ministries International in 2009.

Sadly, Dominique’s fourth child died in January 2017 at 12 years old. Heartbroken, Dominique left the ministry.

“For many months we never heard about him and could not reach him,” explains Rev. Jacky Chery, BTGMI French ministry coordinator in Haiti.

Then, in July 2017, the BTGMI French-Haitian ministry held a leaders’ conference focused on the theme of prayer, following the model of the tabernacle. For the first time in seven months, Dominique made contact with the BTGMI French team and registered for the conference.

At the conference, Dominique shared his testimony. “I was angry at God. I didn’t want contact with anyone. I could not pray,” he said.

After attending the conference, Dominique met with Chery and shared that his heart has softened toward God. He is able to be thankful to the Lord for all he has done – even through suffering the loss of a child.

Dominique said to Chery, “We need to be thankful all the time, open to accepting the will of God in any situation, and thank him.”

Today, Dominique is back to volunteering with the BTGMI French ministry. His gifts and life experiences are being used to facilitate building relationships with students enrolled in the Bible course and with churches the ministry serves.

BTGMI also celebrates with Dominique and his wife as they anticipate the birth of a new baby at the end of the year.

Pray for Dominique and his family as they continue to mourn and celebrate their late son’s life. Pray also for Dominique as he strengthens his relationship with Jesus and spreads the Gospel through BTGMI.