The Perfect Bookends

One week from today! We meet our boy. 10:30AM Thailand time. Which is 11:30PM on Tuesday, August 31 in Indiana (EDT), so technically less than a week! A day we have anticipated since we were matched with him in July 2015. A day we dreamed about since we started the process in March of 2014. A day we hoped would come true as we asked God to grow our family so many years ago.

And it’s almost here. 

I still remember what our pastor was preaching on when we started the process. The book of Joshua. A true story of God’s faithfulness to the Israelites. He used Joshua to lead them to the Promised Land, the place where He told them years before He would take them. A place where He rewarded them, set aside for them. And if you know the story, there were times they turned away from God, doubted God, and God prolonged their journey because of it. BUT God, was faithful even when we aren't faithful. And today, we are not perfect people, we are not always faithful, but I have seen first hand that our God is faithful today as He was all those years ago. You know what the main message God says to Joshua is? 

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

This message that God gave to Joshua is a message God gave us as we entered into this adoption. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, we knew not everyone would agree with what we were doing, we knew that challenges would arise that only God could conquer, and we knew that Satan would attack us as we strived to give God the glory in each step. Rachel, Be strong and courageous. God is with you WHEREVER you go! And holding to that truth, God has been with us every single day of this adoption journey.

So, that was the start to our adoption. With a Jon Guerra song helping us focus on this message, these lyrics confirm the truth of scripture and our desire to go where God would send us being strong and courageous.

• When the sea is calm and all is right, When I feel Your favor flood my life, Even in the good, I’ll follow You, Even in the good, I’ll follow You.
• When the boat is tossed upon the waves, When I wonder if You’ll keep me safe, Even in the storms, I’ll follow You, Even in the storms I’ll follow You.
• I believe everything that You say You are, I believe that I have seen Your unchanging heart, In the good things and in the hardest part, I believe and I will follow You, I believe and I will follow You

Now days from traveling to bring our boy home, a week from meeting him, you know what our pastor spoke on this past Sunday? Gratefulness. How appropriate, and exactly what we needed to be reminded of as silly logistics can distract us so quickly. We are called to respond to the Lord in gratefulness, and we have a reason to respond to the Lord. By the last song at church on Sunday, good grief even as I write this, so many tears of humility, joy…Jason and I don’t deserve any of this. A little boy with the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen, a trip of a lifetime to one of the most beautiful countries in the world, a love and friendship of a marriage that is powerful and strong, a wealth of friends and family standing by our side with us for days, weeks and years anticipating with us on what God will do. We don’t deserve it! And can I tell you today, our God is FAITHFUL. And He is GOOD. And He LOVES us just as He LOVES YOU! And He deserves our praise, as He blesses us with what we don’t deserve. 

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

A Psalm for giving thanks.

• Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
• Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
• Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
• For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

(Psalm 100 ESV)

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!” 

What an amazing reminder as one section of our adoption journey is about to end, and a new one is about to start.