The past few days I have been beaten down by illness, the third one in
two weeks, and it put me out of commission completely for three days.
Sickness is ALWAYS something that Satan uses to derail my heart. I
haven’t quite gotten the hang of joy in the sickness or gratitude in
that particular kind of suffering-anyone have any advice on this
matter or particular disciplines that work for you?
Now, that I am back among the living I am heavy hearted over many
friends struggling in the adoption process. The tension when someone
is hurting is to disengage, to say “I’ll pray for you,” sort of a good
luck with that, (glad I’m not in that situation,) and walk away.
Unfortunately, I have done this so many times.
As a wife, mom of three, daughter, sister, friend and volunteer I
carry around many roles, much like each of you. Of course there isn’t
“time” for one more need, for one more to-do on our list, but as
daughters of the risen King, I think we must engage. We must fight for
the hearts of the ones we love and the people God has placed in our
lives, not at the expense of our family but perhaps because of our
family, and because of the story we hope God writes into our family.
I’m not talking about doing more,
I’m talking about engaging on a heart level.
Truly praying for someone that God has laid on our hearts, fasting
alongside someone who is waiting on an answer or direction from God or
serving them in some way that makes sense without killing ourselves in
the process.
We are not meant to go through this life alone, not in the physical
sense, because we can always keep ourselves surround by people.
Spiritually.
We need allies, and we need to become the friend that the friend we
are looking for is looking for. (I kinda stole that from our pastor.
He used it in the sense of looking for a mate but I think the same
thing applies for friendships.)
Since we are all moms here we can all relate to the time when we have
waited to get pregnant or waited to meet the baby we have been
carrying around for close to a year. We have been showered, we have
been touched by strangers who just can’t help but love on our
protruding bellies, we have been celebrated and many wait with us in
anticipation for the arrival of that precious little bundle to take
its first breath.
Friends, I want to invite you into something that is going on around you.
Imagine someone tells you that you will never carry a child.
Imagine someone tells you that you will not be able to expand your
family in a biological sense to the number you were hoping for.
Maybe you have experienced this before or seen someone go through this.
Imagine you humbly CHOOSE to invite sickness, abuse, abandonment,
special needs, disease into your family and you watch as woman after
woman gets pregnant, showered and celebrated, while you attend
celebrate and shower the bellies all around you.
No one is celebrating the one you are waiting for.
No one is supporting you financially.
The best you get is, “Wow that must be hard. I will keep your family
in my prayers.”
Imagine the message to your heart.
Rejected.
Lonely.
Afraid.
Scared.
Angry.
Hopeful and . . . . . Alone.
Friends, if you know someone today who is in the process of adoption,
maybe they just decided that is what they are going to do or maybe
they have a referral in hand and are waiting to fly across the globe
to go pick up their treasure they need YOUR support.
Let’s be the body of Christ to these families. Let’s shower them.
Let’s send them notes of encouragement. Let’s fast with them as they
make decisions about who, when and how these treasures will come home.
If you are adopting or have adopted,
tell us your story by:
1. Posting your blog link below, so we can visit and encourage you
2. If you don’t have a blog, just share in the comments below
We are here for you.
Slowly Letting Go by Carla Fain