Cast Your Bread

How do you go from dreaming about one child's untold story in your family to loving a different child in a matter of a week?

How do you let go of your dreams? How do you open your heart to love again when it has been so recently bruised?

Only by God's grace.  Only because of His tender mercy. 

This past Monday, exactly one week after Harper said no to joining our family, Ian officially said yes.

What a difference a week makes.

Back in January, as I was paging through my Bible during prayer time at church, I stumbled into the book of Ecclesiastes.  A book filled with reality checks.  A book which reminds us that life is short, and that how we spend our lives matters very much.

Nestled inside that book were several verses that particularly pierced my heart that morning.  Just that week, Harper's picture had been featured all over her country as a child who needed a family.  The fear of losing her was great, and I was struggling to give my fear to the Lord when I read:

"Cast your bread upon the waters,

For you will find it after many days.

Give a serving to seven, and also to eight,

For you do not know what evil will be on the earth.

If the clouds are full of rain,

They empty themselves upon the earth;

And if a tree falls to the south or the north,

In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.

He who observes the wind will not sow,

And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know what is the way of the wind,

Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child,

So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed,

And in the evening do not withhold your hand;

For you do not know which will prosper,

Either this or that,

Or whether both alike will be good."

The Lord spoke deep into my heart as I read those verses.

Just cast your bread upon the waters.  Don't let worry or fear block you from doing what God has called you to do.  Don't hold back, just go!

Quit looking for signs and assurances.  Quit waiting for just the right moment or circumstances. Just cast your bread upon the waters, and go.

Let God write the story, and trust Him for the outcome.

Last week on our longest day, after my worst fear had come true, I found those verses again.  I read them with tears dripping.  Cast your bread.  Do not hold back.

Do not let heartache keep you from doing what you were called to do.  Quit waiting for the rain, quit worrying over the wind.

Let God write the story.

Do not hold back.

"As you do not know what is the way of the wind,

Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child,

So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed,

And in the evening do not withhold your hand;

For you do not know which will prosper,

Either this or that,

Or whether both alike will be good."

Cast your bread.

I am so grateful we did.