Peace

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7



Don't be anxious, trust the Lord and with humble prayer make your reasonable request known and by doing this you will have peace from the Lord. Not just any peace, but peace that surpasses all understanding.


Have you ever been in those situations that can be devastating and maybe they are at first but then you really truly give it to God and say " It's yours Father, your will be done."  and then all of a sudden this amazing peace and joy covers you?

It covers you so much that not even those little whispers can't get in? It truly is an amazing feeling. It doesn't mean that the situation is over, it doesn't even mean that it will end up the way you once thought, but it does mean that you will be grateful exactly where you are (even if it's in a pit) and you may not even want to leave this trial for the next because it's right here where you can see the Lords sweet face.

And yet, I have to keep learning this over and over and.......

Either way I am thankful.


"Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you." 1Peter5:6-7

Are we missing it?

The past couple of weeks have been draining. Emotionally and spiritually.

With everything that has been going on around me, I keep having one convicting thought that hasn't left me. To God be the Glory.

We say that a lot. But do we really know what it means? Do we really want God to have ALL the Glory? Even when He asks you to do something you don't want to, even when everything around you seems to be falling apart. Do you still want to give Him the Glory?

We are breathing because we are HIS vessels, used to do HIS work for HIS glory.

We share the gospel not for ourselves or even for the person we are talking to, but for HIS GLORY

We are married so that we may show HIS GLORY

We have children so that we may raise them for HIS GLORY

We adopt not to add to our family or to rescue a child but for HIS GLORY

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priest hood, a holy nation, a people of His own possession. THAT YOU MAY PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES OF HIM who called you out of darkness." 1Peter2:9

"...that they may see your good deeds and GLORIFY GOD."1Peter2:12

"...in order that in EVERYTHING GOD MAY BE GLORIFIED" 1Peter 4:11


"So that we who were first to to hope in Christ might be to the praise of HIS GLORY."Ephesians1:12

"Until we acquire possession of it (spiritual blessings) to the praise of HIS GLORY." Ephesians1:14

I love what it says in Isaiah 49:3, "You are my servant, in whom I will be Glorified." and also in 1Corinthians 4:5 "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves As servants for Jesus sake."

What better honor then to be called HIS servants, just as Jesus did not come here to be served but to serve. We GET to do this. We GET to suffer FOR HIM, we GET to honor and Glorify Him. What privileges we have that we chose to over look. How many times do we glorify and honor the Lord when things go the way we think it should, but do we do that when everything goes wrong? Do we trust and glorify God in all circumstances?

We like to complain and focus on our trials. Instead of being grateful for them. We GET to suffer for His name sake. Don't you see that we are united with Christ in His sufferings (1Corin.1:5) just as we are in His resurrection (1Phil.10)   



If God told you to walk away from something you put your heart and soul into, or to walk away from a job or to sell everything and move. Would you do it without knowing any other details? Would you move so far out of your comfort zone that you have no choice but to depend on Him, because only then is He really Glorified. Only in our weaknesses and our trails is He really Glorified.(2Corin,12:9-10)  Only when we remove ourselves and our wants from the picture is He really glorified. It was never about our circumstances, our family, our loved ones, our passions. It's about His will, His calling, His sufferings, His Glory.

And oh, how I fall so short.


"And the city had no need of son or moon to shine on it, for the Glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. Revelation21:23


Thank you Jesus for loving me enough to allow me to be your servant and to share in your sufferings. Forgive me Father for not seeing what a huge privilege you have given all your children.  No matter the cost, help me to always bring You Glory.                  

Where you are Father, there I shall be.

A year?

   I can't believe that it has been almost a year since God has called us on this journey to our son. I am still in awe of all the amazing people we have "met" and all of the amazing people that have come along side us. Your prayers, your kind words, your sacrificial giving has been incredible. I would never have imagined that we would have so many people supporting us. A "Thank you" will never be enough!!

  This adoption has been a lot like home schooling has been. I am getting to see how ugly my heart really is.
  We also as a family have fallen in love even more with Africa.

 

   With the news that has come out of Ethiopia, I have received many sweet words of encouragement and prayers from a lot of you. I would like to say Thank you! There is a lot that I want to say, but I want to be very careful with what I write.

When I first heard the news from our agency it leveled me. I had a mini break down. When I finally finished crying, the Lord had showed me some things. Somewhere along this road I had made this journey all about me and my child. UGH! I hate even admitting it. Somewhere a long the way I lost track of why God called us to this place to begin with.

The last couple of months we have been in prayer over some things we heard that we just could not get past. And then when this news came out about unethical adoptions, my heart sank. I was being naive to think that this doesn't happen. I was being selfish to think that people would never traffic innocent little children. Yes, I know.... its dumb.

There is  a lot that we don't know. Right now we are praying through a lot of things. We want to make sure we hear God clearly and no one else. We want to make sure that whatever we do that it is God honoring.

There are some things we do know. God is faithful and just. These are not our children but His children and He will take care of all of them. I know that God is bigger then all of this, that He will provide for those children that can not wait to be adopted. That He is with them ever second of the day. He never leaves them. And even though we can not always comprehend why things are they way they are, we can trust in the One who is in charge. We don't have to see the big picture, we just go when He says go and we stay when He tells us to stay. And we trust Him and seek His face in the known and in the unknown. And we ALWAYS pray with out ceasing, not just when things get bad.  These children need our prayers, but they have always needed our prayers.

I would rather it take years to get our son and know that he was truly an orphan then to wonder if he was taken from his family.

To God be the Glory!

Resting on His promises for our family and for all His children,

I have great news!

No we did not get the call.... sigh... BUT we have some great news that will help us towards our referral fee so we can say YES to our little man when we do get the call! :D


Ordinary Hero is an amazing nonprofit, child advocacy organization. They serve children in need both locally and abroad through privately funded, ongoing projects that are completely driven by their network of volunteers....Ordinary Heros. Their slogan is to "Change the world for one"

They have amazing merchandise. I got to see all of them first hand and I had to really control myself not to buy everything. All of the material is great, honestly there was not one thing that I didn't love. You have to check out all their cute stuff. They have tons of different styles!

They are such a selfless organization that they are allowing adopting families to earn money towards their adoption fees by selling shirts. Yes, we get to sell their amazing shirts!!! I really do feel very honored to help spread their message and at the same time, this is going to help us with that huge referral fee. We get 40% of the sales.

In order for us to get the credit they have given us a special link. That way all you have to do is click on the link to order and it will automatically go to us. Here is the link:

http://ordinaryhero.corecommerce.com/cart.php?m=affiliate_go&affiliateID=a78ea5d6e21d8c0255e27981335d37d2&go=

Please feel free to post it anywhere. The more people that know the better, not everyone will be able to purchase ,but everyone can spread the word.

Go and check out all their cute stuff!!!