Encouraged

I am surrounded by some amazing people. It's no secret I have had a rough and emotional week. Each delay we have encountered has been small, but they are adding up. And I am WEARY. I have been so encouraged though this week through the words of some of my dear friends. Like this.....

"Well...I guess my thoughts on your delay and potentially mine are relating to how God knows the beginning atnd the end. He knows the exact moment she'll be forever placed in your arms. I guess we can choose anxiety or experience the gift of peace we have as believers. It's an ongoing battle with the flesh. Sadness with hope, however is an emotion given to us by God. We can long and be sad from disappointment. I know too that once she comes home we'll have new trials. If we're growing in the Father we'll always have trials of suffering. It's times like these where the cycle seems endless, my heart aches for heaven. Take heart, my friend He is God and has overcome this world!"

And this..... 
  

"Someday we will sit around a table, with our kids playing nearby and we will 'remember when...' And we will be healed from this heartache and we will be building our amazing families. And we will be better at it having sat where we are now-on the heartache-joy roller coaster. Oh my friend, tears are a most effective prayer. With each tear or scream into a pillow, we are saying this is hard. That trust is hard. That faith is hard. But not once, in any way shape or form does it mean that we are turning our back on our Father. He knows.

For a long time, unrelated even to adoption, the only prayer I could muster was a weeping "please" and an occasional "thank you" sometimes the pain and the weakness is far too much.  It's when God wraps us up in his arms and makes it possible to do the little things to care for ourselves and the ones we love.   This is what I believe. It's not a test or a punishment- it's the ebbs and flows of faith.  And when we want to yell at Him- that's ok, too.

When it's hardest to be positive and the weight of the wait is too much, my friend always says, "Grab the Hand." And it brings me to tears to picture God, our father with his hand reaching out to hold mine. 

Each tear is a prayer. We can not always be strong."

And then I was reminded that The Lord uses these trials in our lives to grow us so that we can one day encourage others. 

"Read this verse this morning and immediately thought of you two.2 Corinthians 1:3-4 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father ofmercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, SO THAT we may be able to comfort those who are in affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God'
This teaches me that not only does God comfort us through difficulty, but He is also training us how to be USED by Him. He is "dragging" you guys through this lengthy experience to better equip you to be used in the lives of others. Our process over the last 18 months has enabled us to minister to so many in ways we never could have had we not been through. So, He promises to comfort in the midst of, but then to use our story to comfort others. God will use your story of faith in tremendous ways for years and years of ministry. The best part will be telling the story while Aven sits on your hip."

I love adoption. I love what it says about God and how it is such a clear representation of the Gospel. One of the things I am so excited about doing, now that I have walked this journey, is to shepherd others who have decided to adopt. Most of the time, adoption is not easy. Every story comes with its own share of hurts, heartaches, and delays.  If our adoption was easy, how could I ever relate to the majority of adoptions? How could I shepherd those who need encouragement during their journey of adoption. I desire to be a help to those in this process and for this reason I am thankful I cannot say "it's easy".

These are just a few of the texts and emails I have received this week. One of the most amazing things about this is that some of these people I have never met face to face, or have only met once. And they have become DEAR friends during this journey. We exchange emails and texts almost daily, encouraging each other and just being there for each other, because we know EXACTLY what each other is feeling. We will be lifelong friends because we have walked this together.

I am so blessed by all of my sweet friends who have chosen to walk this journey WITH me. This process would be so much different without their encouragement and support. For that, I am so thankful!