Two Questions- Same Answer
Last night I spent time with a precious friend, and she asked me two questions.
1. What has been the hardest thing about the adoption so far?
2. What have you learned the most so far?
Without hesitation I knew the answer - trusting God's faithfulness. It is interesting to me that my husband claims that one of my spiritual gifts is faith, yet so often I feel like I lose perspective. During this process, I have continued to ask various questions of God and the answer is always, "I'm faithful."
In the midst of the possible Ethiopia slowdown in March, I asked WHY a million times. I prayed that God would care enough about these orphans to see them come to families. And you know what my answer was?
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11) and I LOVE the Luke 11:13 ending "How much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
So before any Ethiopia issue was resolved, God answered my prayer by showing me these scriptures, and teaching me that HE cares much more than I do, and he is willing to give me more of HIMSELF (holy spirit) when I ask. And that is what I need!
There have been many, many times in the last year when I have doubted God's faithfulness- will he really provide? Will things happen the way I want them to happen? So, he told us to care for the orphans, but will this adoption ever happen? And God has answered me by teaching me more about HIS character and giving me more of His Holy Spirit. He has given me scriptures and taught me to look back like in Hebrews 11, and recall not only the times that God was faithful in the scriptures, but how He has been continually faithful my entire life, and has given me much more than I ever deserved or needed. And being faithful does not mean that he is sticking to a plan that I have created, it is Him staying true to his unchanging character, and that He will offer new mercies every day, and that the gospel (saving me from life apart from him) is all that I need, every day, forever.
Although this growth has come with pain and lots of frustration, I am so thankful that the Lord has gracefully been teaching me, despite my stubbornness and doubts. So when my husband looks at me and says I am a woman of faith, I clearly cannot credit that to myself- it has all been given to me.
"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." Romans 4:20-21
1. What has been the hardest thing about the adoption so far?
2. What have you learned the most so far?
Without hesitation I knew the answer - trusting God's faithfulness. It is interesting to me that my husband claims that one of my spiritual gifts is faith, yet so often I feel like I lose perspective. During this process, I have continued to ask various questions of God and the answer is always, "I'm faithful."
In the midst of the possible Ethiopia slowdown in March, I asked WHY a million times. I prayed that God would care enough about these orphans to see them come to families. And you know what my answer was?
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11) and I LOVE the Luke 11:13 ending "How much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
So before any Ethiopia issue was resolved, God answered my prayer by showing me these scriptures, and teaching me that HE cares much more than I do, and he is willing to give me more of HIMSELF (holy spirit) when I ask. And that is what I need!
There have been many, many times in the last year when I have doubted God's faithfulness- will he really provide? Will things happen the way I want them to happen? So, he told us to care for the orphans, but will this adoption ever happen? And God has answered me by teaching me more about HIS character and giving me more of His Holy Spirit. He has given me scriptures and taught me to look back like in Hebrews 11, and recall not only the times that God was faithful in the scriptures, but how He has been continually faithful my entire life, and has given me much more than I ever deserved or needed. And being faithful does not mean that he is sticking to a plan that I have created, it is Him staying true to his unchanging character, and that He will offer new mercies every day, and that the gospel (saving me from life apart from him) is all that I need, every day, forever.
Although this growth has come with pain and lots of frustration, I am so thankful that the Lord has gracefully been teaching me, despite my stubbornness and doubts. So when my husband looks at me and says I am a woman of faith, I clearly cannot credit that to myself- it has all been given to me.
"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." Romans 4:20-21
Thanks for the reminder Rebekah. I have been meditating on this lately as well. Do I really believe He is sovereign? Do I really believe in His goodness and faithfulness? If I do, then I need to rest in that and not get caught up in "my plans" for this adoption. Love that Romans verse!
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ReplyDeleteThank you for this-it is exactly what I needed to hear today! I stumbled onto your blog a while back and have enjoyed reading your journey thus far. We are also adopting from Ethiopia, and got our referral mid-February for a beautiful 3 month old baby girl. We waited a long time to be submitted for court, and have now been waiting a month to hear of our court date. I really thought it would be this week (no luck yet), and have been having such a tough time not getting depressed about our wait. Thanks for the reminder that God has our timeline all mapped out, and we just need to be patient and wait for His plan to unfold! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, yall. Agree with yall- waiting is so hard, but trusting in His sovereign plan is the only thing that makes it better.
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