Faithful Fridays - "Peace"

I know it's been awhile since I've done a Faithful Fridays post, so I thought this was a good day to share this story with you.




In December, our family was one of the families asked to participate in the advent portion of our church service that took place every Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. On our Sunday (the one right before Christmas), we lit the candle of peace. Colt lit the candle; Joy read scripture; I read definitions of peace and said a few words; and Jason gave a testimony of peace in our familiy's lives concerning the adoption (with a little humor thrown in). Then he led in prayer.

I'd like to share with you all here the story he told that day (with a few more details added by me and told in my words).

I honestly would love to have a houseful of kids. However, a long time ago I came to the point in my life of not worrying about what I couldn't change and to just turn it over to God, and be thankful for what I have and trust His perfect will. Now Joy had been praying for a sister or brother for quite sometime and wasn't shy about mentioning it often. I knew that God would either give me complete peace that we were done (adding to our family) OR he would have to let Jason know we weren't....BUT.....what I wasn't going to do was to try to persuade Jason. It would definitely have to come straight from God to Jason! :)

Well.....from time to time, Jason and I have discussions (just in the course of a day) about our responsibilities as Christians such as being good examples, taking on certain tasks, standing up for something, etc.. From time to time, I would hear Jason tell a family (that was expecting a child)..."That's great, Christians really should have more children. Our society needs more children raised in Christian families". Believe me, I was taking note! Being one to take advantage of every opportunity, I would usually say, Yes, we should. He would always joke away about being "too old".

One particular evening, our whole family was hanging out in our bedroom just talking. Colt had just gotten in from work and was in there talking with us, and Joy was piled up in the bed with us. Colt's conversation geared in the direction of Amber's mom (Amber is his girlfriend), expecting her 9th child. Jason said, "it" again, "That's good...Christian families should have more children if possible." Well, this time I said, "Yes, they should, so why don't we add to our family?" He stammered around a bit with the "too old" stuff and said well the "younger folks should." I said, "Don't you think God can decide that instead of us?" Joy chimed in with the fact that we weren't too old (and she's pretty convincing). I believe Colt even said something about us having a point there and told us the age of Amber's parents and something about double standards! lol! We talked lightly about adopting and the ages we could adopt instead of beginning with an infant as well as the countries from which we would consider adopting IF we adopted. We joked and laughed, but the seed was planted. And we went to bed.

Over, the next couple of days, I guess you could say the seed was watered. I could tell Jason was thinking on things because he would randomly say something about how he would want to make sure he was healthy IF we adopted because he wanted to be around to see the kid grow up...(stuff like that). I just let him talk.....and listened. :)

Then the miracle happened! Jason came in from work a couple of days after that and told me to "check out the adoption thing". "If they say I'm not too old and I check out to be physically okay, we'll just proceed with the adoption process and see what God does." I didn't waste any time! In fact, little did he know that I had already been researching and asking questions, getting the requirements and financial aspects together....(getting my ducks in a row).

Then I delivered the findings to him. The cost associated with the adoption process alone was enough to scare us! My how that had changed over the years. But, that's just one of those mountains that God can move with faith. So, we agreed that we would just proceed, trust God for all avenues, and if doors opened, we would walk through. That if in fact, God wanted this for us, all would fall in place. My first thought was to just keep quiet about this until we found out if we were complete qualified, were approved, and could swing the finances (somehow), BUT I felt the Lord wanted me to be transparent and share. It would be a testimony to Him as to what He would do.

And boy did God move. There's no doubt in my mind that God gave us complete peace in trusting Him to guide us through and provide along the way. I know His timing is perfect because Luke was our son waiting on the other side of the world for us (just as was Colt). God knew the moment he was born the family to which he belonged...he just had to get us ready. I'm amazed at what God's done and what He's still doing, as he guides us on this journey to Luke.




My favorite definition of peace (taken from Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language)...my favorite dictionary:

PEACE - Freedom from agitation or disturbance by the passions, as from fear, terror, anger, anxiety or the like; quietness of mind; tranquility; calmness; quiet of conscience.

I think alot of us can identify with needing that kind of peace in this world of uncertainities, no matter what your situation. And ONLY GOD can give that kind of peace.

Blessings,
Tammy