“Patience isn’t about what you are waiting for, but how you are waiting for it. It’s about waiting well.”
This quote from an article that really resonated with me is about how to wait on God and what He's doing in your life. It gives 5 things to do to honor God while we're in the midst of waiting:
Spend time in prayer.
Praise God for what He's already done.
Prepare.
Keep a proper perspective.
Press on.
I know without a shadow of doubt that we are not the only ones waiting for something - waiting for God to show us what's next. So, as a way to update you on our adoption process, and hopefully encourage some of you who are also waiting, I'm going to use these 5 things to challenge all of us.
First, spend time in prayer.
I invite you to use the prayer card that we send out each month to guide your time in prayer when you intercede on our behalf. This is what we're praying for. We challenge everyone else to make a list of a few things to pray for in your own life, and share it with friends and family so we can intercede on your behalf as well.
Second, praise God for what He's already done.
Many times in the adoption journey, it's easy to lose sight of the little steps that make up the end goal. One of those little steps is getting these crazy intense fingerprints. Basically, the government sends this paper that says where to be on what day at what time, and there's this big, bold note at the top that says if you don't show up, your paperwork will be considered abandoned. What a fun word to use for adoptive parents. Usually, you have to wait a few weeks before you can go because that's the time and date that they give you. I had received advice from a friend of ours to try to walk in early, because, well, why wait longer than you have to. Thankfully though, we received our notice on a Tuesday, and our appointment was scheduled for the following Thursday! I know this seems like such a small thing, but it really and truly is the small little victories that we have to cling to in this time of waiting.
Only you know what you're waiting on, but I know that God has already done so much for every single one of us in sending His son to take on the penalty for our sins and our transgressions. I know that He rose from the grave, declaring victory over death. Therefore, we can all praise God for what He's already done.
Third, we prepare.
And prepare I will! Books, blogs, education, conversations, they're all preparing us to bring our Judah home someday. Also, while we're waiting, God is preparing our hearts for what He will do through us, through Judah, and through our testimony of adoption someday. Preparing to be a parent (as I'm sure anyone who is a parent and reading this can attest to) is unlike any other preparation. It changes your life forever. Instead of the normal 40-ish weeks, we get a bit longer to prepare. My hope and prayer is that God allows us to use that extra time to uniquely prepare and equip us for what He has in store.
How are you preparing your heart for what God has in store for you?
Fourth, we keep a proper perspective.
Ha. This one is probably the hardest. Sometimes the waiting is overwhelming. Sometimes it seems unbearable. Sometimes it seems like you just want to crumble onto the ground in a fetal position and cry because it just seems like too much (you can read more about this in my blog post, "The Pursuit"). Sometimes I look around and it just feels like the world is too far gone.
This would be a good time to pause and allow me to ask all of you to pray for the Middle East. Although Ethiopia is not part of the Middle East, it's much closer than we are, and we have many connections to that part of the world. In fact, Ethiopia is about 3,100 miles from Iraq. This may seem like a lot, but it's not in comparison to how far away we are. In America, we're so removed from the devastation that is going on, and it's so easy to sit back and judge an entire culture, or to just wash your hands of it. But we cannot. We must pray. We must cry out to God on behalf of those who are being persecuted. We must keep a proper perspective, and our prospective should be that these are our brothers and sisters and we must intercede on their behalf. If we don't, who will?
But alas, we serve a good God. He promises us that He will never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). And in John 16:33, Jesus tells us, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. But take heart! I have overcome the world." That is our perspective. In the darkest days of our lives, and in the darkest days of this world, we know that we have a Savior who has overcome it all.
Last, we press on.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
So, we must press on. We have work to do while we wait. God may have called us to wait, but He doesn't call us to stand still. We must bring His gospel to our friends, our families, and to the ends of the earth! We must keep moving, pressing forward to advance the mission He has called us to. So whether we're waiting for a child, or something else, we keep pressing forward, following Him in obedience to His word, to ultimately bring glory to His name.
“It’s not about what we think will satisfy us now, but what God wants to do in us, for us and through us later.”
May we be a people who live for what God is will do in us, for us, and through us.
Thank you all so much for your prayers throughout this journey. We are so appreciative of each one of you. Please let us know how we can be praying for you and your families as well.
This is a modified version of the Morales Family's monthly e-newsletter that updates family and friends on our adoption process. If you would like to sign up to receive this monthly email, please sign up using the form below.
