Thought I would write a little status update on the adoption.  I received an email from our babies home administrator, and it looks like we will probably be traveling in mid January.  The courts reopen after the second week in January, so sometime after that is probably our timeframe. 

So, was this disappointing to me?  Yes.  Mainly because I have a sweet friend who lives close to me that got to leave last week for Uganda, and it was pretty unexpected.  They were about 3 weeks ahead of us in the process, so I thought we might get to go soon.  However, the holidays fall in that time difference, so it adds quite a bit more time to our wait.  A longer wait is always disappointing.

Honestly,  I can see why the Lord has orchestrated this timing.  It really will be easier than just packing up and leaving right now.  I still have quite a bit to do.  LOL!  That could be the understatement of the year.  I actually have a TON to do. 

At any rate, one very cool thing that I have realized is that the Lord has grown me in an area that I have always struggled with – control.  My need for it, that is. This is so exciting to me!  Turns out all I had to do to deal with this sin issue was to jump whole heartedly into something so unmanagable that the idea of me controling it was a joke.  😉

So much of my life I have made my plans, and then when things didn’t go as I wanted, I began to manipulate from every angle.  I would try to change my circumstances instead of changing my perspective.  I didn’t consider that maybe the Lord had different plans, and that even if they weren’t better for me, it didn’t matter.  Because it wasn’t about me.  It isn’t my story.  It is His story.  If some injustice happens to me, it doesn’t mean that isn’t how things are supposed to fall.  I am not guaranteed a happy ending here on earth.  He is.  My happy ending is in eternity in Heaven with our Lord.     

Well, it has been so cool to see in our obedience with these adoptions, that the Lord is refining so many areas of our lives.  Because we have stepped so far out of what our “normal” or “reasonable” plans would be, we are pretty much forced to trust the Lord.  We have followed Him into a situation that is so far beyond anything we can control, that honestly, it’s pretty silly to even try.  It has dawned on me that probably one reason that I have so struggled with control is that I have kept my life in such a safe, neat box that I have been able to control it, to some extent.  Rather than living a life of reckless obedience to what the Lord would have me do, I have lived a safe and secure life following the American dream.

I am so grateful that the Lord is continuing to refine me and chip of the edges of me that don’t conform to His son.  I pray that I would not rely on myself in this life, but would continue rely on our sovereign Savior.  I pray that I would not seek out my safety over God’s glory.  That as the church, we would recklessly walk in obedience and care for the orphan, the widow, the stranger, the unreached and the least of these until the Lord returns or calls each of us home. 
I will leave you with a great quote from David Platt in his book Radical.

“The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American dream is that our greatest assest is our own ability.  The American dream prizes what people can accomplish when they believe in themselves and trust in themselves, and we are drawn toward such thinking.  But the gospel has different priorities.  The gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in His power.”  (pg. 46) emphasis mine