Rest Assured

Last Friday, Good Friday, Jim and I went together to attend Secret Church at the Church at Brookhills in Birmingham, AL.  It was an intense time of Bible study (7 hours to be exact!) and prayer for the persecuted church in Turkey. This time in the word was so refreshing and uplifting to our spirits.  The study guide we were given was filled with scripture after scripture after scripture - all God-breathed and all made for reproof, correction and training.

I was a goner from the very beginning of the night, though, because the row in front of us was filled with college age boys who were so intent on worshipping God and studying his word.  It made this mama of boys extremely glad and I didn't even know them! :) I just kept thinking and praying, "Yes, Lord, please, I want this for my boys! (and my girl, but I was particularly thinking of my boys) I want them to have a passion for you and your word!"

Seeing this group of boys especially touched my heart because toward the end of the row was an Asian boy and you could tell he was ALL IN and of course I just kept thinking of our boy in China! We can't wait for him to know the love of a family and the love of Jesus!

All of the night's study was related to the gospel and how it effects our everyday life. Toward the end of our time of study we came to the topic of rest and how the gospel effects our rest.  We read many scriptures about how we can trust God and rest in Him amidst fear, anxiety, trial and trouble.  We can trust his sovereignty and his goodness.  And this again brought my thoughts back to our little guy and our adoption process. 

A couple of weeks ago I sent out a text to my mom, my aunts and a few of the ladies that I look up to at our church.  I asked them to pray that the updated video that we have been waiting on for over two months would come in that very day! I was so tired of waiting and so anxious to know that our boy was ok and was doing well. (Definitely the waiting and the not knowing are the hardest parts of this whole process!) I knew that these ladies would go before God in a powerful way on our behalf, and I just knew that that video would be in my inbox before the day was out.  But, it wasn't.  In fact, we still haven't been able to receive it.  Do you want to know the strange thing, though?  From the moment that I sent that text and began to get texts in return assuring me that they were praying, a peace and a rest came over my soul.  The fog of sadness and funk that I had been in for a couple of weeks began to lift.  My soul knew without a shadow of a doubt that my God heard those prayers, I knew that he is mighty and powerful to act and that He loves me (and our boy) in a fierce way.  My heart and mind were put at ease because I knew that if we weren't receiving that video that it was because God was doing something greater in our lives.  I could REST in the grace and knowledge that my God is a GOOD God and he knows how to give the very BEST gifts.  He has been shaping me throughout this process.  Chiseling.  Teaching my heart to submit, to wait, to have hope, to have peace and my friends those things are worth more than gold or dare I say, a video.  ;)

And, just by way of update.  I've now added a new page that shows our adoption timeline.  This shows the steps we've already completed as well as what's still to come.  If you're interested in adoption or just interested in how much more we have left to do, please see the tabs at the top of the page and click on the one labeled adoption timeline. Or just click this link http://redthreadofhope.blogspot.com/p/adoption-timeline.html

 I can't tell you how many of these I've looked at on other people's blogs! 

And lastly, we sent out five grant applications today. Whew! Prayers going up!