I am finding it so hard to believe that we are really leaving for China in THREE days!
It seems like only yesterday that I began to seriously entertain the dream to adopt.
It was two years and nine months ago when I began to purposefully pray about adoption. Our daughter Victoria had been working on a report for school about China, and she had “stumbled” upon several adoption blogs.
One Friday morning, she was so consumed with the stories she had read of how God had provided to bring so many orphans home, that I allowed her to stay home from school to tell me all about it. (At that time our children were in Christian school. We homeschool now.)
After all, is there anything more important than our children’s relationship with God?
I’m so glad I kept her home that day. We read the stories together. We laughed. We cried. We fell in Iove with face after face of so many of the precious children waiting in China.
I will always remember that day for several reasons. One, because my sweet daughter was learning about how HUGE her God is, and because she wanted to share it with me. And two, because that was the day when God began to call me to adopt.
I knew, when I went to bed that night, that I desperately wanted to make a difference in the lives of as many children as I possibly could. I knew that I wanted to give my life away loving these precious abandoned children.
But in my mind, there was just no way we could possibly adopt. We already had nine children. Mark had an excellent job, but we needed every penny of it. Not only that, but seven years prior to this fateful day, Mark had lost his job two times in nine months. And seven years later, we were only beginning to climb our way out of the hole his job losses had created.
In my mind, those things were certainly mountains that loomed ominously over any dreams of adopting.
I decided to begin a new prayer journal specifically for the purpose of asking God to do the impossible in our lives. I prayed for God to use Mark and me for His Glory in a big way. I have always been a dreamer, but I began to allow myself to entertain dreams of living my life for God without limitation. I began to purposefully ask for the impossible.
I did nothing else.
I just asked, and believed.
I knew deep inside that the insatiable craving to adopt after having nine biological children was God sharing His heart with me.
So, I wrote in my journal.
And I prayed.
Now, almost three years later, God has moved every mountain!
What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Zechariah 4:7
The mountains are nothing to God.
I stand amazed at the God we serve, and I am overwhelmed with the conviction that He wants to do the impossible in ALL of our lives.
We need only to believe.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ~ Mark 11:24
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. ~ James 1:5-7
Believing is a choice. It’s not a feeling. It is deliberately expecting God to finish the great work He has started.
When we first began this adoption journey, I was almost crippled with the enormity of the task. Face after face of the many children who wait haunted my thoughts. In my mind meeting the needs of every orphaned child seemed an insurmountable task, an impossible task. We could bring home one child, maybe two or three, but the thousands we would have to leave behind just filled my mind.
The children’s faces still haunt my thoughts, but now I know how to meet the needs of every child. It is through faith.
The children come home by faith!
What if the church united and began to believe that God not only could, but that He would bring every child home?
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ~2 Chronicles 7:14
If you have a dream in your heart to love a child, recognize that desire as a dream God has placed in your heart for a reason. BELIEVE that God will finish what He started in your heart! He is in the business of creating the tangible from faith!
11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
~ Hebrews 11:1
May we stand in faith, as the body of Christ, and bring the children home!
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit”, says the Lord. ~ Zechariah 4:6
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In faith, till they ALL come home!
What a truly beautiful post, which spoke very directly to me this morning! Am excited to follow your journey to China!
Thank you, Penny!
Whenever I write, I ask Jesus to give me the words. I ask Him to help me to write for that one who’s needing encouragement today.
I never really know if my posts speak to anyone or not, I just write my heart.
But today, you blessed me with your encouragement!
God bless you!
Diane
Diane
I am so happy you are on your way to China to bring these beautiful girls home to your loving family. I am SO thrilled that sweet Eliza (who I met as Lulu) is going home. We just adored her when we had the honor of meeting her- such honest sweetness- just amazing kindness. I hope you have safe travels and I will be following your journey.
Denise
Diane, it is exactly a year since you wrote this electrifying post. As you know, it changed my life! I am still waiting for G-d to whisper in Rick’s ear (or maybe he has and Rick hasn’t told me yet 🙂 ) but I am in a very different place from where I was a year ago, when I couldn’t have imagined even bringing it up. THANK YOU again for this and for your friendship! (((HUGS)))