New Year-What Now?

Happy New Year. There is a lot to enjoy about a new year: a fresh page to write on, a clean slate, new possibilities. Yet most people don't know how to utilize their writing utensils; they expect the writing to be done as if by magic or they ask God to do the painting. While we should have the will of God in the forefront of whatever we endeavor, He expects us to use the pen he has given us. It's called living intentionally.

Intentional living is looking at goals and walking towards them. If you want to have kids that Love the Lord, you need to know what that looks like, what actions make it happen and then begin to do those things.
Do you want to live for God? Then you need to know him and his calling on your life. If you have felt compelled in your past to start a bible study, go on a mission trip or help the homeless but never took a step in that direction, you must do the things that will get you there: call your pastor, set aside money, take a class etc.

This could be the year you see God do amazing things. It will not be because he hasn't been doing them all along. It Will be because you are walking towards his plan.

Happy 2016!
Be The One to Live Intentionally.

Being Brave

Recently I was rereading the book Number The Stars to my sons when I noticed a parallel between the story and adoption. For those who haven't read it, the story is set in Denmark during the Nazi occupation. There are two families: one Jewish and their best friends who are not. The plot revolves around the Christian family trying to help the Jewish family escape. The young girl who is the main character asks her adult relatives many questions and she is told  "It is easier to be brave if you don't know everything."

This resonated with me because the same is true of adoption. If we knew all the facts of a child before we committed, we might never commit. It is good to go into an adoption with your eyes wide open and knowing as much as you can, but at some point you have to walk by faith and take a blind leap. I remember when I first called Dr. Number 1 ( a referral from someone) to look over our "potential" son's medical file. She reviewed the file and then gave me every worst case scenario concerning what the boy might require both medically and psychologically.  While I appreciated her honesty about all the unknowns, I quickly decided she wasn't the right doctor for me. I wanted someone who saw the possibilities in the child.

Having adopted before and having gone to countless trainings, I knew the negative consequences of living in a foreign orphanage or foster care. The problem is that there were so many unknowns and we couldn't prepare for all of them. I didn't believe God wanted us to know everything before saying "yes" to the child. We knew he was parent-less, we knew he had been in the orphanage for 5 plus years and we knew his medical diagnosis. Beyond these facts, we had to be Brave and pray that God was leading us and he would provide everything we would need.

The story ends with the young girl helping her friends avoid detection because she could not give away what she didn't know.  And our story?  Our son is healthy without any signs of the original diagnosis let alone imagined ones. 

Be The One to be Brave.