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I prayed that I would never write this post, but here I am writing it. I am choosing to believe that God has a plan and a purpose in letting us wait this long for our daughter. I am claiming His promise that He is working all things together for our good. I know that He is using this difficult time of waiting to prune us and refine us. And honestly, I am grateful for that.
I have (once again!) changed my title on these monthly posts to "30 Months and TRUSTING"! As we have hit the 17th of each month, I have documented about our journey. For the first 12 months, I titled the posts, "1 Month and Counting", "2 Months and Counting", etc. Once we finally hit the 12 month mark, I changed the title of the posts to "12 Months and Hoping", "13 Months and Hoping", etc. Then when we hit the 18 month mark, I changed it to "18 Months and PRAYING", "19 Months and PRAYING", etc. And then at the 24 month mark, I changed the title of the posts to "24 Months and BELIEVING", "25 Months and BELIEVING", etc.
And now at over 30 Months on the waitlist, we are just TRUSTING Him.
We sing a praise song at our church called "Nothing Left of Me", and the lyrics are so true of where we are in our journey...
That I could learn to trust You
In every way to love You
Strip away all that remains for Your glory and Your Name
'til there's nothing left of me
Burn the kingdoms I have made that You would shine
And I would fade 'til there's nothing left of me
'til there's nothing left of me
And so the journey and the wait continue, and we continue to trust Him.
Burn the kingdoms I have made that You would shine
And I would fade 'til there's nothing left of me
'til there's nothing left of me
I feel like after these 30+ months on the waitlist, that we are just now getting closer to where the Lord wants us...stripped down to complete dependence on Him. Getting to a place where there is nothing left of us. I am honestly to a point that I don't pray anymore for Caroline Faith to be home by a certain time, or to see her face by a certain month. I just pray for His will to overcome. I pray for His timing to prevail. I pray for His glory over my wants and desires. I pray for His redemption over the wait. I just call on the name of Jesus over and over...pretty much all day long.
He is so good, and He is so faithful. He has met us right here where we are. And I am so thankful.
Yesterday, March 17, 2013, also marked exactly 3 YEARS that Jody and I have been praying together about adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia. I poured my heart out to the Lord yesterday and wrote a very long prayer in my journal. It is just so amazing to see all that He has done (and is continuing to do!) in our hearts over the past 3 years.
We know that He has not wasted one minute of the past 3 years. I wish I could say the same about myself. I am so thankful to serve a God who is always faithful, even when I am faithless.
3 YEARS ago today, on the morning of March 18, 2013, this was the first Bible verse Jody read...
"How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble."
Psalm 41:1
That was the confirmation he needed from the Lord to keep praying about adoption. And he did keep praying, and the Lord was faithful to reveal His will. Jody taped that verse to his bathroom mirror on that March 18th morning 3 years ago. It is still there today.
And so the journey and the wait continue, and we continue to trust Him.
Dear Daughter,
For over 3 years now, your Daddy and I together have prayed about you and for you. We know that God has heard every single prayer we have prayed over the past 1,097 days. We are trusting in Him to bring you home in His perfect timing.
God has a plan for your life, baby girl. I have no doubt about it. I pray that you will grow to know Him and love Him at an early age. He created you perfectly, and He loves you so much.
We love you, Caroline Faith. We can't wait to see you, meet you, hold you, and just know you. We trust that the day will soon be here.
Hold on, baby girl. We love you and we're coming soon.
"Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in Him, and He will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him."
Psalm 37:3-7
4 comments:
Praying for yall that you get your precious little girl in God's timing.
Not sure if you have ran across the blog or not but It's Almost Naptime just brought their little girl back from Ethiopia and they had a really long wait as well.
http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/
Praying and trusting with you sweet friend. I can't even imagine the rejoicing, delight, joy, dancing, singing, and crying that will take place in so many hearts (mine included) when that call finally comes.
Praying with you guys. Cant wait to see the post saying that the waiting is over and you have a daughter!!! We are currently adopting, and have had one of those rough rides. We are STILL waiting for our homestudy to be complete. It's been around 10 months. Just one thing after another. But like you said, we are TRUSTING!!!!
Sunday at church we read Isaiah 40:29-31. I know these verses are familiar, but, just the same, I pray God will make them ever true for you. "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." I'm praying for you!
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