Pure Joy

I was privileged to witness a miracle this week. Some friends have been trying to adopt from Liberia for over two years, and just three months ago it looked completely impossible. But - nothing is too hard for the Lord. That little boy and little girl are in their forever family - snug and warm in their beds with a mom, dad, brother, and sister who love them. Amazing. How do you put it into words - watching that happen? It was pure joy. God is amazing! Simply amazing.

"Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Genesis 18:14

As God would have it, I began a Bible study about the same time as we started this whole adoption process. It's a study on the Patriarchs - or the fathers of our faith - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Who would think that a study on 3 men and their journey with God would have any applications for going through an adoption! Like I said, God is amazing. :) It has been chalk full of them!

A huge part of the study is based on God's promises. He promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendents would be too numerous to count. But Abraham and Sarah had no children, and it would be 25 years since the time of God's promise until they had a son. 25 YEARS! And, Sarah was "past the years of childbearing" (Gen. 18:11) before she became pregnant with Isaac. That tells us she had already gone through menopause.

Where would our faith be - if 25 years had passed and our bodies were incapable? Would we still believe God and trust in His promises? Let me share what my study has to say:

"We often think receiving what we've been guaranteed ought to be a cakewalk, but Scripture shows the opposite is more often true. The most profound things God promised were often fulfilled against the greatest odds and through the most difficult hardships. To God, faith is often the point-God does nothing cheaply. Perhaps the divine nature of a promise fulfilled guarantees its expense. We may receive a hundred unexpected things from God with delightful ease while the fulfillment of some of the things we believe He promised us proves virtually impossible. You see, the impossibility is what makes the fulfillment of the promise fall under the God category. God makes promises man simply can't keep."


The beautiful thing is, there was nothing my friends could do to bring their children home from Liberia. God did it. And nothing can dispute that. Another beautiful thing - it builds my faith (and so many others'). If I ever start to doubt and wonder how on earth God will bring another child into our home, all I have to do is remember all the promises He's already kept.

We have our second of three meetings this coming Tuesday and God is moving and already putting things together for us to be able to have our third sooner than we thought would be possible! I'm excited to see how God will continue to keep His promises - to us and others.