Yesterday I spent six hours at our adoption agency in a
training called “Coping with the Wait”. Our adoption certification was final almost a year ago, so it was a timely and helpful topic to think about.
Early in the Spring of 2011, my husband and I attended an
orientation through Bethany Christian Services, where we learned about their
Domestic Infant Adoption program.
We had already done a lot of research and had been to an orientation
with our county for foster care.
Our hearts resounded with a unified, “Yes” after the Bethany
orientation. We plunked down the
money, took the stack of paperwork home, and with that step, began the journey
toward our adopted son or daughter.
How do you wait for someone when you don’t know their
arrival time? How can you prepare
for an event when you have no control over its outcome?
I may not yet know the specifics, but this is what I DO know
about the person I am waiting for:
: they have been purposefully created by a God who loves
them.
: they are not a mistake
: they are supposed to be a part of our family
: the road to them has been terribly long and unbelievably
hard
: the journey to reach them has a purpose in my life that is
being fulfilled day by day
: God is with me right now as I am waiting, and is also
present with the one I am waiting for
: this is not merely about my desire to parent another
child, but God, in His infinite wisdom and power can use this desire in my
small, human heart to fulfill His divine purposes in other lives, in the life
of the child who will join our family, and in their family of origin, Lord
willing, to bring about His purposes in their lives as well.
Isaiah 40:31 was shared with us yesterday during the
training, and it stayed with me as we came home and went about the rest of our
day. Here it is, along with a
couple of other verses on waiting:
Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait on 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.”
Psalm 33:20 “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help
and shield.”
Isaiah 64:4 “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear
has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those
who wait for him."
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He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
ReplyDelete(Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV)
Hoping this baby is in your arms soon! You're weathering this waiting time amazingly well!!
Thank you, Valerie :). I am grateful for the days, like today, when the possibility of a babe in my arms really does seem possible, and close. Other days it feels like a far-off something that may never happen.
ReplyDeleteHaving good friends to walk on this journey with is such a blessing! Thanks for walking with me...