Maxine and her sons in November 2010.
When the earthquake struck Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, Maxine’s brand new restaurant collapsed on her. She was stuck underneath for hours before a friend came to her rescue and helped her to get out.
She lost one of her feet, but she was very grateful to be alive. “God gave me a second chance that day,” she said.
Two years later, Maxine’s smile is just as bright.
Reconciled
“I am making the most of my second chance,” she says. “I decided to forgive my ex-husband and we are reconciled. He came back home and we now live together with our two sons. He takes good care of me. I was given a new job in the bank I used to work in before I opened my restaurant, and even got promoted! God is good. My two sons are doing well at school and they are a blessing.”
Maxine and her sons in January 2012.
Maxine hasn’t forgotten that it is God who gave her this second chance. She says she praises him constantly for it and she reads the Bible every day – the Bible the Bible Society gave her shortly after the earthquake.
A few weeks back, she decided to read the whole Bible, from the first page to the last. She used to stop “when it became complicated,” but not this time.
“I have now reached Isaiah, and chapter 43 was my reading this morning,” she says: “Israel, the Lord who created you, says, ‘Do not be afraid – I will save you. I have called you by name – you are mine.’” (43:1)
Maxine outside her house in Port-au-Prince, January 2012.
