The groans of the adoptive parent. They spin all around me this morning. There are so many who are wading in the miry process wondering if they will ever get through intact. Stories not yet unfolded. The end too far out of sight to allow them to take heart.
How to share. How to convey their struggle so that you know how to pray.
In one country a child waits. She has waited for NINE years. Abandoned when she was but a day old because she was blessed with an extra chromosome. Her RR name is Valerie.
She has a family who desperately want her. They have been working for over a year to get her. They are fully funded and ready to get on the plane. But they have just been told - after a year of wading through the muck - that they are NOT good enough. The government in that country has decided that the child deserves a better family. WHAT?? This family has already adopted several children from that country. Who better?? Please dear church, pray for this family. Pray for Valerie. Pray that hearts will be changed. Please pray. A little girl's future hangs in the balance.
Another family -
here in our country - is in complete limbo, waiting to see if the child they love with all their being will be allowed to be part of their family. It is complicated and hard. Their little guy, Ethan, is medically fragile. His adoptive family lives in one state but recently he was transferred to another state for treatment. This means that they may lose him. There just are no words to say to this family except that we are praying. Praying for Ethan's healing and praying that he would allowed to be not just the son of their hearts but their son in every other sense.
And then there is the family in another country who also has ALL the money they need to finish their adoption. But again, the door has been shut by a governmental agency. And so an older child waits. And a family is left with empty arms. They are left to pray that hearts will be changed. They will appeal again in January. Though I can't share their name here I ask that you pray. Another child hangs in the balance.
And the dear family who is adopting a child from a country that has just passed a law stating that every orphaned child must be rejected by THREE foster families before they are deemed fit for international adoption.
The grief this has caused - the agony of the wait. They are choosing to move forward in FAITH that God will make a way to the child HE has called them to adopt. Adelyn. They need our prayers as they move forward. Their blog is
HERE.
And the families who are adopting from Aaron's former country. What honestly can I say about these families except that we are groaning in prayer with them as they wade through the current mess that is taking place. Back in late spring new laws were passed. The agency that processed adoptions would be shut down and a new agency started. On top of that, the list of children with special needs was changed. Many of the Reece's Rainbow children, some who had families in process to get them, had to be removed from the website. They did not make the list.
Families who were ready to cross the ocean had to reject their travel dates because their child was no longer adoptable. Who can count their tears? The special needs list was supposed to be revised in October. But it is now November 21 and the list has been left untouched. So families continue to wait. They don't see an end. They are stuck in the middle of the process with held breathe. And the changing of the agencies has bogged the process for the other families whose children are on the list. Right now everything is frozen. And so everyone waits.
It seems so hopeless for so many. Adoption is hard. The enemy will not let go of these children without a fight.
But we are NOT alone. We are NOT without hope. Though the stories I shared are full of gloom and hope seems so far away... We hold on this truth....(thank you Chris Tomlin)
OUR God is stronger. OUR God is Bigger. God you are HIGHER than any other. OUR God is healer - AWESOME in power. OUR God. OUR GOD.
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
Into the darkness.... into enemy territory... into the pit of hell itself...
OUR GOD!!
People - We serve a LIVING AND MIGHTY GOD. Our prayers are NOT empty words that float around into meaningless space. Our prayers are a sweet aroma to a living God who desires to set the captive free. We pray with hope. We pray with joy. We pray knowing that God is hearing and moving. We pray in the reality that HE IS GOING TO WIN. The outcome may not be exactly how we pictured. We may not always get exactly what we wanted. But in the end - when the final story has been told - we will marvel at the outcome and we will be in AWE at how HE WORKED AND MOVED.
So stand and pray this Monday morning. Pray with these families as they lift their pleas before the throne of Grace. Pray knowing that God hears. Pray believing that in the end - the stories told will be stories filled with tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of praise.
Pray church. Pray.
