OK, Lord. I'll follow and trust. Such a simple reply, but this has been such a struggle lately. Sometimes I think it's easier to just pity myself and move on. I tend to forget, or choose to move the fact to the nose bleed seats of my mind, that there is a beautiful truth in that verse. Even when we are going through the deepest, darkest pits of life, God has complete control of the plans for our lives. In the midst of darkness, He is the Light. He has no pleasure in seeing us hurt, but He knows that there is an amazing outcome to the icky, sticky situations we get in to in life. You want to know something even greater? He is even with us in the good times. Rejoicing with us. Even in the best times, we must rely on God. He deserves all the attention in any situation. He is so good and so mighty and so unbelievably loving. Isn't it great?!
Then why is it so hard to trust and follow? Like I said, this has been weighing on my heart lately. Adoption, the past, the future plans, finances, health, our students, and you fill in the blank for your own lives. So many things to 'worry' about, but what is so perfect is that God is so almighty! He turns our worries into mush when we can just be content in Him and know that every teeny-tiny situation to the biggest inconvenience ever, is part of a beautiful plan for our life. Believe me friends, I am struggling with this right now. My idea in sharing, is that maybe you to will be reminded of how precious we are to God and every case of cancer, sickness, family death, friendships lost, bullying, infertility, and just plain heartache is part of a plan not to hurt you, but to grow you closer to a God who has an amazing future planned for you. How can that not make us smile? Even in the valley!
"Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." ~1 Peter 5:7
Adoption Update~Prayers would be a huge blessing, friends. As of right now, our adoption agency and many others are not accepting new families for Ethiopia adoption. It has become a slower process than normal so they have chose to wait a couple months to open it back up. They are hoping that it will not be a permanent thing, but they mentioned that it possibly could be. Just a bump in the road, right? I would be lying if I said that it isn't disheartening. Now you can see why my thoughts above have been a constant thing lately. My hope and a dream I'm often thinking of is that sooner than later, we will be sitting in our home with our sweet baby and reading back to this and thinking, 'I'm glad we just trusted in Him.' It's not easy, to worry about this on top of many other things that have had me up at night, but life isn't easy. With God it is possible though. Our eyes are focused on Him.
A special shout out to my precious husband who designed such a cute blog for me. I thank God for such a sweet person to go through all of life's twist and turns with. Thank you for placing God first and for leading us through. You're great best friend! I love you!
