Because I have seen...

I have been approached by many people lately...

asking "why?"

Why do we take in children...

especially when we are so busy and have so many burdens of our own...

No, our situation is not "picture perfect" to the world's standards.

Nor (if we were able to choose our path) would we have chosen these circumstances either...

BUT

God is not calling us to have a perfect life before we are to be obedient.

He is not waiting (thankfully!) for us to be perfect either.

For those of you that know me and the many of you who don't...

you would know that I am a very unlikely vessel for God to use.

I see all my faults...

and my social awkwardness...

and my bluntness...

and my disorganized areas of my life...

I see all of it (and so much more)

and I know that I am not anyone that God should choose to use.

Maybe that was it - 

I am a nobody who is hopelessly in love with my Savior...

willing to follow Him, learn from Him, and serve Him in every way.

Willing to do, to go, to serve...

even if it turned my world upside down.

I (just as many of you, I am sure) always dreamed of being called to the missions field

Serving in some far-off land

reaching the lost

healing lives in His precious name!

Many of you have had the privilege of going...

but I suspect that many of you (including myself) are not called to go.

We are called to stay...

serve Him where He has planted us.

And I was content with where He had me.

Living a middle-class American life.

Serving my church,

loving my God,

reaching out to my community...

And then suddenly I KNEW that wasn't enough.

I couldn't be content just being a "soccer mom"...

and although I work

and although I homeschool

and although I run my house

and serve my church through several ministries

it was not enough.

So that is where my journey began.

Trust me, dear friends, that if you ask Jesus where He wants you.

He will tell you.

Just be prepared for the answer!

He may ask you to sacrifice something you never knew you could do without.

He may fill an already busy schedule with more than you ever thought you could do.

He may give you something you never knew you needed -

but you quickly find out that you cannot live without!

I do want to take a moment and say - 

where He has called me is not necessarily where He has called you.

I thank God that He only shares pieces of His heart with each one of us.

I think if each of us knew all that God wanted to do here 

we would go crazy trying to fix everything at once.

So he gives to each their portion.

Only if they ask...

So- how many of you have felt the Father's heart for the children?

Why is it not the right time?

Is that timing yours or His?

He has opened my eyes to His children that are lost and dying.

Who need love and nurturing and a Godly home to grow in.

They need a chance.

They can't wait.

So I have felt a tugging and burning to do more.

I cannot take every one in.

(I know that)

But He has given me a voice to share.

So here I am answering the repeated question...

I do it - because I have seen!

He has opened my eyes to see His children.

And now, I cannot look away.

 

I am earnestly praying for the opportunity

(and I believe God is doing something in the background and I am thrilled!)

to inspire and encourage others.

Lord, open doors to show Your love for the orphan 

and our role to showing them Your love!

  

Resting in Him

I feel very blessed to have had such a restful time away.

Although we have had some busy and hectic times around here - 

My God knew I needed some peaceful time of refreshment in Him.

Because it is only in Him that we can truly find rest.

REAL rest.

The kind of rest that heals, restores, and strengthens us for another day.

So there I sat looking at this wonderful creation of His

and I was actually able to steal away a few HOURS...

yes, you heard me right HOURS...

with Him.

Only Him.

My Comforter.

My Healer.

Oh, what a precious time it was!

It was during this time that He began to speak to me

He showed me some deeper truths in Him - 

some precious moments with my Savior!

~~~~~~~

It was so calm and peaceful.  Psalm 23 came to my mind...

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

I sat pondering this wonderful psalm and I began to think of it in another light.

Still waters...

what did that mean?

The amplified Bible expand "still" to mean still and restful.

Whew!  I know being "still" makes me feel rested.

But...

then He began speaking to my heart and showing me the difference

between still...

and stagnant.

Flowing water brings health, healing, life!

Stagnant water - water with no movement - brings disease, sickness, and death!

 

Could it be that it is the same with our faith?

That somehow the MOVEMENT of our faith put into action

is what keeps our spiritual heart healthy?

That we we "rest on our laurels" so-to-speak

and become lazy in our spiritual state - 

that we can become stagnant too....

A breeding ground for all things unhealthy...

gossip...

jealousy...

lustful...

discontent...

Could it be that "resting in Him" is actually a state of MOTION???

That those "still waters" that He leads us to actually move us?

That just as the physical wind impacts on the waters to keep them moving

so must the wind of His Spirit sweep through our lives.

His Spirit is always flowing

all we need to do is submit and let ourselves be moved by Him.

So He showed me those "still waters" are full of energy -

restful energy - 

but one that brings life, peace, and healing.

 Let Your Spirit flow through me!

I will never long for "still-ness" the same way again.

  

Piles!

Okay...I have a confession...

I have piles...EVERYWHERE!

Now, I know I am the only one out there

so y'all can just pray for me.  *smile*

For any of you who are with me in the pile-ness

join me in looking at them a bit differently.

 I know I am busy-

we are all "busy"-

and this crazy world that we live in 

here in America seems to come with tons of piles!

(you know I can't imagine other countries dealing with the "stuff" we deal with)

Running a house has piles of papers that come with it...

bills...

caring for children...

medical papers...

caring for foster children...

work papers....

homeschooling papers...

It just keeps piling up.

Most of the time we don't even know it is happening 

until it is out of control.  

Overwhelming.

Distracting.

SO-

as our school year begins to wind down

and as I started to try and get up the nerve to deal with my piles-

GOD SHOWED UP IN THOSE PILES!

What?  You say... there is nothing Godly about clutter.

and yes, I agree...

but it was here in my chaos that He spoke softly to my heart.

You see many times we let our heart get cluttered.

It happens very slowly

little distractions

grow into bigger distractions...

Until we find ourselves buried under activities and busy-ness

and we find ourselves doing more in our life

for ourselves, our homes, our entertainment...

and doing nothing for His kingdom.

 So here I am looking at my physical clutter

and He is showing me my spiritual clutter.

Time to clean house!

(yes, both physically and spiritually)

And just like the piles of papers and books and receipts,

it will take time to work my way through the clutter in my spirit...

I want to see Him more clearly...

 I want to see His heart

for the lost and dying...

the hungry and poor...

the lonely and hurting...

I want to see, Lord!

And I know to see with Your eyes 

I have to de-clutter mine...

Join me on my journey closer to His heart!

    

God's "Interruptions"

Well it certainly has been a bit of time since I posted.

All is well.

but....

God "interrupted" my schedule and life has been turned upside down!

and my interruption has a name...

SKYLAR

This dear, medically fragile infant...

born at 1 lb 3 oz...

so many specialists...

many, many, diagnoses....

yet I truly believe she was set apart for us to care for.

to pray for...

to advocate for...

I had shared before how God was preparing me for some greater challenges.

I had no idea what He had in mind.

This whole process has given me insight into letting God interrupt our lives.

So many times we are so organized and scheduled...

We have our clubs and appointments...

ministries and services...

day in, day out

scheduled full of activities with no eternal value.

Yes, our children need opportunities to be socialized,

we need time out with Godly friends to encourage our hearts,

errands need to be run, and bills need to be paid...

BUT

Do we have a heart attitude to allow God to interrupt us?

Do we give Him the opportunity to have a divine appointment with the Holy One?

He is opening my eyes that having a schedule is not the same

as the schedule having us.

So we are again in a place of surrender.

Letting our compassionate God unfold another series of precious miracles

right before our eyes.

We fully believe in His healing power...

His restoration power...

His infinite love for these precious children...

and His call to all of His own to care and do their part.

So through this time of stretching and growing

we are allowing Him yet again to "interrupt" us.

Our time is Yours, Lord!

Use us - in any way You want.

Because we are learning once again that His interruptions

are usually the best kind of all!

***please join us in prayer for this precious, fragile, one as we ask

our Heavenly Father to touch and restore her body***

The Ripple Effect

I just love the way God reveals things to me sometimes.

He just KNOWS me.

He made me who I am.

He called me.  Personally.  Specifically.

He called you too, ya know?

But for me He showed me something very profound 

(at least to simple-ol'-me)

God, in His great wisdom gives us opportunities to see His hand...

intervening in situations on our behalf...

Closing doors to which is not the way He wants us to go...

Opening doors that could never be opened without Holy intervention...

and this week He has allowed me to see His "Ripple Effect" 

and He is showing me this in His heart

and best of all, giving me the privilege to let it flow through me.

I will try my best to put into words what the Father is showing me

but grace is requested - this is still fresh for me.

We all know how a ripple looks when a drop hits the water, right?

What we do causes ripples as well. 

For good.  For bad.

r~i~p~p~l~e~s f~l~o~w f~r~o~m o~u~r a~c~t~i~o~n~s

If we 

argue

gossip

dishonor

nag

criticize

carry unforgiveness

hold grudges

and every other nasty attitude...

do you ever notice how that effects those around us?

 We create chaos in our lives, family, and relationships.

We feel drained...

Out of focus...

Scattered...

His holy calling is to be focused.

His holy Word is as one.

The Bible is called the Word of God.

not words... Word.  period.

That Word, as a single focused drop creates a clear, beautiful ripple.

 and that ripple spreads...

and spreads...

and spreads...

even past the point of our eye being able to detect it...

when our human eyes cannot see, it is still spreading.

If we don't get in the way or become an obsticle for it

the ripple will continue.

So this is me receiving the ripple sent by God

and allowing Him to let it pass through me and continue on.

A wonderful bloggy friend advocates for the orphan.

She shares the Father's heart for them - 

and keeps them in front of our eyes.

(cause if we see them and hear about them we can't say we didn't know...)

Her passion is contagious...

her love for these lost and forgotten is pure.

No matter what their "needs" may be

He has called us all to help...

to stand in the gap...

to advocate...

to pray....

to get beyond ourselves.

I once read that if you look at all of the "professing christians" in the US...

 and had only 6% of those who profess to be a follower to take in 1 child...

ONE CHILD

That we could obliterate the orphan crisis throughout the world.

Go back - read that again...

That figure brings a lump in my throat.

My eyes have been opened

and I will not allow them to be shut.

164,000,000 orphans worldwide

15,000 children die every day due to hunger

and we do....?

So this brings us to yesterday (wow - that was quite an intro, huh?)

sorry.  Well, not really... :o)

As many of you know, we foster a precious little girl who came to us broken and bruised.

Such abuse at the hand of her parents it is almost inconceivable.

Even worse, her twin sister received even more (unimaginable!)

My heart breaks at the thought of these beautiful healthy girls treated so brutally.

And at only 2 months old.

Saved.  Set apart by their Heavenly Father.

We are prayerfully waiting for them to become legally free...

and praying for the ability to adopt them both.

Despite her "special needs" we feel Him calling us to advocate for the one we don't have.

EVERYONE NEEDS A MOMMY!

So I continue to pray for the strength to do what He calls me to do.

and God brings another precious one into our path...

SKYLAR... a little one who was born at 24 weeks gestation...

she has possible genetic defects...

monitors and medicine...

therapies and doctors...

and I am so overwhelmed thinking that I don't know if I can handle this..

but still willing and yearning to be used by Him.

And then the ripple comes to me.

Through my bloggy friends post...

of a ripple that had come past her - she shared a post of a special needs child

who needed a family - and a family that stepped forward to give her (and her roommate!) a new family.

The words that were shared off of this woman's blog rippled straight into my spirit.

It spoke directly to what I am struggling with.

She shared,

On Sunday I told my husband "I have reasons not to move forward,
but not one of them can be supported by scripture 
and they all have to do with me." 

Wow.

That was so what I was feeling!

So now, as I pass on this ripple 

(more like get out of the way of His ripple)

I challenge us all.

Can we now take a new look at our decisions?

Can we take a new look at our actions?

Can we hold them up to the light of the scriptures to see His will?

My deepest desire is to let His light shine.

To fulfill what He has for me.

I am not worried about how it will happen

(I know He will always make a way when it is His will).

So today I am overwhelmed ...

by His love for all His children

seen and unseen by this world.

And I know He will give each of us the strength 

and the time

and the money

and whatever we have need of

to fulfill His will here on Earth.

  

Amen?  Amen!

   

His Timing...

ok... I can't be the only one out there that struggles with this...

right?

So here we sit.

Waiting.

Praying.

Dreaming.

Who is coming to our home?

 Who is He going to call us to serve?

 Our continual prayer is that He uses our family

in any way that brings glory to His matchless name.

A.N.Y. W.A.Y.

And with that prayer in our hearts and our mouths 

we have become yet again a ping-pong ball.

Yea!  We are getting one!

Nope.

Yea!  We have TWO coming!

Nope.

Yea! We got a referral but the ages aren't right...

and we KNOW we prayed on this issue.

Sorry, no.

Back and forth our hearts swing

yearning to meet who He shall bring...

waiting and learning to grow in the waiting.

waiting and learning to surrender to the waiting.

In this quick-fix society we have grown up in waiting is not valued.

Yet, our Heavenly Father values it so!

Psalm 27:14

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!

He is teaching us that TIMING is everything.

His timing.

Not ours.

As we wait, we wait IN Him,

as well as ON Him.

He has promised us that He will move and every ounce of my soul

cries out that I don't want to be even one second out of step with Him.

His timing is worth the wait!