Adoption isn’t Easy
12 months have gone by since we submitted our application to
our adoption agency to begin our journey to our daughter. The past year has been filled with paperwork,
fundraising, waiting, praying, and a growing desire to bring our little girl
home. It has been busy and hectic at
times and dreadfully uneventful at others.
I wish I could say that we have
possessed nothing but good attitudes and patience throughout this past year,
but the reality of adoption is that it isn’t easy. I wish it were. I wish if a loving family wanted to adopt a
waiting child that is longing for a forever family it would be a simple
process. As I reflect over these last
months; however, I sense that God has been using this time to prepare us to
bring our girl home. He has been growing
and maturing us.
If adoption were easy, I’m sure I would be missing the truth
of how special adoption is. It is too
easy to depend on ourselves when something is easy. This adoption has taught us to depend on God
for many things. When we started, there
was a mountain of money required for the process. We didn’t have it, but God did. It is 12 months later and we have all the
money we need to get our girl. When we
started, we didn’t realize how much our family and our little girl are loved by
our friends and family. It is 12 months
later and I’m still amazed at the generosity and support that has come from the
special people in our life. When we
started, we thought we’d be able to control the process more. It is 12 months later, and we realize how
much God is orchestrating to bring us to the right time and to the right place
to meet our little girl who He has chosen.
If we had been able to get our girl 12 months ago I think we would have
missed out on knowing and loving our precious Father so much better.
God never tells us things will be easy if we just believe in
Him. I actually believe He wants areas
of life to be difficult. He wants some
things to be beyond us and our power.
When we encounter those hard areas of life that we can’t do in our own
strength, then He gets to work at full force.
We are left to stand back and marvel at how only God could have
accomplished such an amazing feat. God
uses these hard areas of life to teach us how amazing He is.
So, its 12 months later and we still don’t know our little
girl’s name or when we’ll bring her home.
I’m sure we’ll still be battling impatience and frustration in the days
to come just like we have over the last year.
I’m sure we’ll have our moments of trying to control things and do it
our way. It won’t be easy. Even after we bring our girl home, things
will be hard, but that’s ok. By
depending on God, we’ll get to stand back and marvel at how He takes care of
the hard stuff.
