eyes open to see the joy

If the endless cups of Echinacea tea with honey and lemon, the antibiotics I’ve been on for five days and the rest I am taking can help me overcome this incessant cough, then tomorrow I am going to drive into Orange County to attend a special event:

Choose Joy is a one-day conference in Southern California for women and couples that are experiencing infertility and/or desire to grow their families through adoption.  

Click on the button above to read more about the conference, and to read about Emmy, the creative and lovely host for the event, click here http://www.joyshope.com/2013/01/meet-emmy.html

At the conference, I will hear speakers on topics like open adoption, infant loss and miscarriage, and waiting on god’s timing through infertility and adoption.  I look forward to meeting other women who have walked a similar road and who are also called by God to grow their family through adoption.

A couple of months ago, I posted that I was starting a series about adoption here on my blog.  Well, it hasn’t been much of a series!  (I am still such a blog-novice!  Lesson learned, don’t say you will do a series until you’ve done a bit more planning…).  I may not be writing about it, but I am thinking and praying about adoption constantly.  And I am learning much in this time of waiting.

How many times have I been waiting for something, eyes glazed over, oblivious to my surroundings, only moving step by step because the person in front of me has stepped forward? 

A friend of mine, a sweet 80-plus year old woman at my church, shared a moving testimony a few weeks ago.  She talked about how, as she goes through her everyday errands, to the bank, the market, the dry cleaner, she has learned to keep her eyes open as she is waiting in the interminable lines.  She told of how one day at the bank she heard a woman coughing and wheezing behind her in line.  She turned and began to speak gently with her, learning that the woman was suffering from bad asthma.  My friend asked if she could pray for her.  The woman was touched as they prayed, and there was an easing, both physically and spiritually for the woman.  My friend told of another time at the market where she became aware of a woman in front of her who was short on money for her groceries.  She stepped in with a blessing for the woman, and with money to cover the difference.

As her testimony drew to a close, this dear saint who has walked so long with Jesus told us what she gained in each of those moments: Joy. 

The joy of Jesus, pure and lovely and true.

I was struck that in each of the moments she shared about, my friend was simply waiting, willing to do the good work God had for her.

Our family has been waiting to adopt a baby now for over a year.  I know that at times during this year my waiting posture has been one of glazed over eyes, shuffling forward day after day without really seeing the work God is doing in these waiting days.

I am excited about tomorrow.  I know I will hear stories of love and loss, heartbreak and hope.  The title of the conference, and the truths I know about Jesus, give me hope that I will be encouraged to live these days of waiting with my eyes and heart wide open, to Choose Joy.