Lots of families begin their adoption journey because God turned their world upside down. They realized (through whatever source - the Bible, a sermon, a devotional book, a trip, etc) that God has called us to help orphans and widows and they couldn't keep going in life without following God in obedience on this journey.
This wasn't our family.
We didn't have some crazy moment of realization that we were supposed to adopt.
I knew I would adopt since the day I stepped foot into an orphanage in Albania when I was 19. It was part of the package deal when we got married and Todd was completely on board - it was just a matter of when we would start our adoption journey.
But let me tell you... God has been turning our world upside down since we began this journey to bring Zaine home. He's been teaching us, molding us, growing us and hitting us square between the eyes with truth in His word about how we should be living our lives.
There's something about having no control over a situation that brings you to God (and your knees) more than you ever have been in your life. My faith has been stretched and I have learned more about God's redemption plan for my life that ever.
There have been multiple ways God has been growing us - mainly through scripture but He has also used Jen Hatmaker's book Interrupted to shake up my life.
She begins the book by talking about how she was so busy serving people and doing church... She asked herself the question "Why do I spend all my time blessing blessed people?"
Hmmmm... I grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian school and a Christian college, been in church all my life - I live in a life where I bless the blessed.
She compares her actions to that of Peter: devoted but selfish, committed but misguided.
Another hmmm... that sounds like that could possibly be me.
Jen (yes, I consider us on first name basis now) threw out a quote by Gandhi that I had heard before but thought "wow, good thing that's not me". Well, this time - I reread and reread the quote trying to figure out how I could still say the same thing...
Here's the quote:
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Hmmmm again... this made me think "do my actions and words reflect poorly on my Christ?"
Yikes!
Her book went on to talk about what Jesus said, who He spent time with, who He talked to, who He argued with and how she was content letting Jesus do that messy work Himself and she would just teach from it.
Matthew 25:40 says "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
We don't know what God is doing in our lives but He's rocking the boat in our house about how we should be living our lives.
We're growing in Him and searching for what He wants for our lives.
Everything we're realizing about our faith means we can't continue living our comfortable life as we have been.
I mentioned the other day in general to a friend about where our adoption process was and how the waiting is getting so much more difficult... She said "that boy is worth the wait and the myriad of lessons learned along the way - they're just blessings in disguise." How true this is!!!
But let me tell you... God has been turning our world upside down since we began this journey to bring Zaine home. He's been teaching us, molding us, growing us and hitting us square between the eyes with truth in His word about how we should be living our lives.
There's something about having no control over a situation that brings you to God (and your knees) more than you ever have been in your life. My faith has been stretched and I have learned more about God's redemption plan for my life that ever.
There have been multiple ways God has been growing us - mainly through scripture but He has also used Jen Hatmaker's book Interrupted to shake up my life.
She begins the book by talking about how she was so busy serving people and doing church... She asked herself the question "Why do I spend all my time blessing blessed people?"
Hmmmm... I grew up in a Christian home, went to a Christian school and a Christian college, been in church all my life - I live in a life where I bless the blessed.
She compares her actions to that of Peter: devoted but selfish, committed but misguided.
Another hmmm... that sounds like that could possibly be me.
Jen (yes, I consider us on first name basis now) threw out a quote by Gandhi that I had heard before but thought "wow, good thing that's not me". Well, this time - I reread and reread the quote trying to figure out how I could still say the same thing...
Here's the quote:
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Hmmmm again... this made me think "do my actions and words reflect poorly on my Christ?"
Yikes!
Her book went on to talk about what Jesus said, who He spent time with, who He talked to, who He argued with and how she was content letting Jesus do that messy work Himself and she would just teach from it.
Matthew 25:40 says "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
We don't know what God is doing in our lives but He's rocking the boat in our house about how we should be living our lives.
We're growing in Him and searching for what He wants for our lives.
Everything we're realizing about our faith means we can't continue living our comfortable life as we have been.
I mentioned the other day in general to a friend about where our adoption process was and how the waiting is getting so much more difficult... She said "that boy is worth the wait and the myriad of lessons learned along the way - they're just blessings in disguise." How true this is!!!
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