Hope Will Rise...


This past weekend I had the opportunity to serve as a mentor and workshop leader for a retreat designed for students feeling a call to full time ministry. As much as I felt like it was privilege to be asked to participate, my heart was not there as we pulled out of the driveway Friday for the weekend. I felt like I was emotionally spent and honestly didn't have a whole lot to offer. It's now Monday afternoon, and I honestly could not be more thankful that I was there this weekend. Not only was it amazingly encouraging to listen to the stories of students feeling called, but God really spoke to me Saturday night. One of my friends and colleagues, Josh, was speaking on Spiritual Disciplines Saturday night, and then gave us about an hour to just be still and spend time praying in creative ways. I was struggling that night feeling as though God had forgotten about me. I don't know why, but I was drawn to the Isaiah 40 passage (I think someone had mentioned that passage in a meeting I was in earlier that week), so I read it and then decided to re-write the passage as a letter to myself from God. I am sharing with you that letter, because I hope that as you are reading this today, and may find yourself struggling, that you would insert your own name and be reminded that God has not forgotten you.

Andrea...don't you know? Haven't you heard? God is the forever God. He created everything from the ocean to the smallest little ladybug. He doesn't and won't ever get tired. He understands EVERYTHING, even when we don't. We can't even begin to comprehend how that works. He has strength for you...even on the days when you have a hard time picking up the pieces of your heart up off the floor. When you are down, broken, and weak, that's when his power is ridiculously strong. You will have A LOT of days in this process of adoption when you are so tired of waiting, so tired of not knowing, and feel like you can't stand up on your own two feet. But, if you choose to hope, to invest your trust, to look to, to believe in, to be expectant of the Lord...that same Creator God, you will find that strength. You will find that kind of strength that says God is bigger than an adoption process, bigger than statistics, bigger that "odds" for referrals, and you will remember and trust his plan. And when you grasp that kind of hope and strength, that can ONLY come from our Creator God, you are going to soar. You will find that the strength and power you will receive will allow you to push through the days of waiting, the days of the unknown, the days that are so painful. And you will make it. Not only will you make it, but God will take you to the highest of heights and allow you to experience his plan...the plan he has always had from the start. Hope will Rise."

This Monday...I am blown away by the word of God and his graciousness to meet us in the pain, carrying us and bringing us to new places.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mother's Heart...

Image
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again.  There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and far
Read more

Stories Matter

Image
Yesterday, my family and I found ourselves at a local elementary school’s culture club, presenting about our trip to Ethiopia. Even as I write those words, it kind of blows my mind how God has continued to use our story in unexpected places. When the kids were old enough to understand, we began to talk about taking them back to their birth country when they turned 10. We figured at 10, they would be old enough to be pretty good travelers, but still approach the adventure with a childlike wonder. What we didn’t plan on, was that the year Biruk turned 10 would come on the heels of me taking a brand new job, our family moving to a new state, and buying our very first house, in an economy that felt as though it was tanking!  I remember talking to my counselor one day and sharing with him that while we had always promised this trip to our kids, it just didn’t seem to make financial sense. After all, last time I checked, Southwest Airlines does not travel to Africa. He said something
Read more

The Hands That Hold Your Heart...

Image
I have somewhat been dreading writing this blog entry for the past week.   The more I have thought about it, the more I have realized that my words probably won’t do a great job conveying my heart.   For the past several weeks, I not only thought about our little Baby B half way around the world, aching and longing to hold him, but my heart has been heavy for his birth mom.   While Wednesday marked the 3 year anniversary of our adoption journey (we signed our very first adoption paperwork May 8, 2010), just two days later marked a day in which Baby B’s mother signed papers to give consent to our adoption. Yesterday was a huge step in our journey.   We now wait to be assigned a court date to travel to Ethiopia, which our social workers says could happen any day.   Technically, tomorrow will be my official Mother’s Day as an “expectant” Mom.   While I have felt “expectant” the past three years of this journey, having an actual face and name makes it so much more real.   Tomorrow
Read more