Affliction & Hope

2 Corinthians 1:7-11

Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Keep a Quiet Heart

by Elisabeth Elliot

...for God has not rejected their prayers. He knows better than any of us do what furthers our salvation. Our true happiness is to be realized precisely through his refusals, which are always mercies. His choice is flawlessly contrived to give the deepest kind of joy as soon as it is embraced. (p. 50)

As I woke up this morning, I lie in bed and listened to the winds blowing a harsh, cold wind and my mind drifted back over conversations I had in the recent past with people who don't really know us or our story. I replayed eager questions from a mom interested in adoption for the first time, and felt the weight of another mom sitting deeply in the trenches dealing with residential treatment facilities and the question of how to parent this child best and still protect younger siblings. I prayed over friends who are going through intense seasons of trial in parenting and adoption, friends who have been patiently and painfully waiting to bring their children home, friends who are just at the beginning of the adoption process and who desire wisdom and strength for the journey.

And I rejoiced in God's goodness to us.

His goodness in a less-than-honest referral, His goodness in a less-than-honest Colombian social worker in region, His goodness in disability (RAD, PTSD, FASD), His goodness in county social worker challenges, His goodness in the horrible residential treatment facility journey, His goodness in adoption disruption, His goodness in intense pain and fear, His goodness in restoration.

Every burden, shock, pain, and answer "no" in prayer was a mercy to our hearts, God's goodness to us, showing us the end of our strength and the great, infiniteness of His. He was so good to us to draw us to Himself, delivering us from the deadly peril of self-sufficiency and pride, and teaching us to depend on Him.

I often hesitate to share much of our entire adoption journey with those I don't know. The first reason is because I know that God is not done writing our adoption story and He is still at work changing hearts and renewing minds, our own hearts and minds, as parents, included. My greatest fear, however, is that hearing about the trials of adoption, especially older child/sibling group adoption will scare prospective families away. My heart longs for the fatherless to be found in families and I don't want our story to become a stumbling block for those precious children to find homes.

When I reflect on Paul's words to the church at Corinth, I see that it is good and right to give testimony to the saving and sustaining power of God when we endure trials so that others may see and know the strength and goodness of God.

Last night as we tucked the last sweet child into bed, my husband and I reflected on some amazing changes we had seen in our children over the past few months. While we still live with the daily challenges and realities of multiple hidden disabilities in our home, hearts have been softened, minds renewed, talents blossomed, hope restored, love received, joy embraced - and we have been sustained through the prayers of many. Give thanks with us!

And thank Him, not only for these evidences of His Work, but for the burdens and afflictions and every good mercy He orchestrated to bring us to this place that we might have hope.