Our New Adventure

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

John 15:16

“You did not choose me, but I chose you”

“I chose you”

Jesus may have spoken these words in person to his disciples the night before he died, but they were meant for all of us.  God has a purpose and a plan for every living creature that walks the face of this Earth.  He hand selects each and every one of us according to his good and perfect will.  How humbling that the creator of the universe loves us so much that He would take the time to plan our future and lay a path before us.  The possibilities are endless.  As for Nic and I, His plan is for us to adopt.  The journey of our path has not been easy.  It has been filled with emotions, road blocked and hurtles.  But even though the process has been difficult at times, there is nothing about our journey that we would change.  God has used this process to shape us, to help us grow and to prepare us for the future.   

“whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

God has provided for us in so many ways over the course of the past two years; He has encouraged us when we were frustrated with paperwork, He has assured us this was His will for our family, and he has provided for us through the generous giving of time and financial means from family, friends and complete strangers.  Truly through him all things are possible.  We prayed for the future of our family and over the course of our adoption our Heavenly Father has given us all that we need… 

If you have been following our adoption, you have heard me say before the paperwork is extensive. Everything has to be perfect and precise.  If it is not exact, it has to be redone.  There is no room for errors or typos.  When we made the decision to follow God to China, the thought of starting all of our paperwork over was scary.  China is very thorough and they require more authorization than what we had to do prior with Ethiopia.  When we began receiving emails with all the paperwork requirements, my heart sank.  Essays, notaries and time lines, oh my!  But rather than allowing the enemy to build anxiety in my heart we turned to the one who gives us help, strength and peace.  Ask and you shall receive….God has given us a new outlook on all the paperwork and we are no longer stressing over what needs to be done.  Rather we now look at the paperwork as an adventure and a potential for growth.  It is amazing the relief that overtakes you when you lay it all down before the Lord. 

God has not only given us peace over the paper chasing process, but he has also already begun providing financially for our next step.  As you may have seen on Facebook, we have been selling our “Project  Ethiopia” t shirts for ½ off the original price.  Over the course of the past two weeks, we have sold almost all of our shirts to people all over the United States and raised the $500 needed to pay for our home study update for China (which is our first financial expense since transferring).  God is good and God provides always. 

God is good all the time and all the time God is good.   

Have a blessed day!!