When God Heals

When we allow the sweet work of the Holy Spirit to reach deep into our hearts and bring peace, healing and joy from disaster, we win! We gain compassion and tenderness, and humility before a great God. We gain freedom from having to know the "why," and freedom from our attempts to control , figure out, and question God's work. There is more room for grace, hope, peace; even enough to share! When God heals, He gives  courage to keep trusting, to keep obeying! I'm grateful for the Spirit, my wonderful Counselor!

Our eyes are upon You

In 2 Chronicles 20, there is a powerful lesson of God's faithfulness in times of trouble. Jehoshaphat leads the people to prayer and in verse 9 cries out "nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You." The Spirit of the Lord answers and says to them."the battle is not yours...position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord...do not fear or be discouraged." What did they do while they stood still and did not know what to do next? They stood up and praised the Lord! When we do not know what to do next, we can position ourselves in thanking and praising God for who He is and what He has done in the past, and for the battles He will fight for us. His Spirit still speaks to us (are we listening?), and God still fights for us (are we praising Him while we wait?)! So, in the "now what" times of our lives (which is where I am) we know we can be obedient in what we already know He is calling us to do, and praise Him while we wait for God to speak and act about what we don't know what to do.

Still Growing

While we may not be growing numerically at this exact season of our lives (although we hope adoption will still be a part of the very near future for us), God is faithfully using our disappointment and grief to continue to grow us toward what He wants us to look like as individuals and as a family. I am so grateful that grief does not have to destroy us nor can it permanently take our joy and hope in what God has planned for those who love Him. We are taking time to be grateful, for each other, for our health and too many other blessings to count (although I have thought about making a list to visually see my blessings when I'm feeling sorry for myself). And, as we looked at reducing a budget item and the media intake in our home, the TV has been cancelled for a time. It's been two weeks and we are really not missing it much; finding more time for games and reading, which seem to also have a healing effect. Psalms 100:5 "For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations."

Divine Interruption and Growing by Grace

We got back Friday from Colombia, and on Sunday I realized that the fall Bible studies were starting up this week. I quickly determined that I would attend, as I have since we moved to Mississippi, and have always found God to speak to me exactly what was needed for the season of life I found myself in. First question of the Bible study today: " How has your life been interrupted lately?" Hmmm...must have been written specifically for me. :) "The interrupted life, Divine intervention, is the privileged and significant life, where eternally significant events become the story that God uses for His kingdom purposes and to bless others for generations to come." That's the kind of life I want! Not that I would have ever chosen to go through the pain and disappointments we just experienced, but knowing that God most certainly guided us and directed us that far, and gave us the grace and peace to accept His divine intervention, helps me be that much more confident in His plans for the future (even though we don't know them yet). We do know we can trust Him, and His interruptions are always for a purpose, for good! We are still growing by grace, just in ways we didn't know we would have to.

Only God Knows

God has lead us to Colombia, and after a difficult 8 days with Laura, Oscar and Daniela, we have had to make the difficult decision to not continue in the process due to significant concerns about the safety and well-being of each individual child, including Caitlin, living together in a family setting. Our hearts are breaking, but we have the peace only God could give at a time like this. It's difficult to understand the "why" but we trust God's heart for our family and the kids. We are praying about remaining in the Colombia program so as not to lose too much ground with fees already paid, as many of you have so generously given toward expenses. We humbly ask that you let us know if you would like your donation returned. Thank you for continuing to pray for us as we grieve this loss.

The Journey Begins Tomorrow

We drove to Atlanta Monday afternoon, applied for our visas Tuesday morning, drove back home, got our visas the next day, and packed the rest of the week! Wheeww! Ready for travel tomorrow! My heart is grateful for being chosen to be an adoptive mom; I've learned so much about my great God, and have been forever changed!

Colombia Here We Come!

Yesterday, we were given our presentation date (the date we will meet our kids)! August 23, 2011! Which means we need to be in Colombia on the 21st, meet with the orphanage on the 22nd and then our kids the next day. So, now we have 7 days to travel and still need to get the required documents to drive the 7 hours to Atlanta for our visas, plus pack, arrange things at home, get medicines and paperwork together, etc....! Exciting!!