To Tell of His GRACE: All Things From His Hand are GOOD!!

I was asked to do a guest post today on my friend Sharon's adoption blog: A Beautiful Symphony so I thought I'd share it here too ~~~

The call to move to Haiti came unexpectedly. Even though we've been in the process of adopting our two newest children from here for over 2 years and have come to visit them half a dozen times, we never thought we would live here. But the call came so clear that we couldn’t deny it.

Our church was nearing the end of a 21 day fast and we had been earnestly seeking the Lord.

That’s when we heard His Voice, calling us to go, calling us to trust Him for this.

We really had no idea what we were saying yes to, but it didn’t really matter. We knew WHO we were saying yes to and after so many years of living life for ourselves we committed years ago to Jesus and to one another that we will say yes to whatever He asks.

So long as we know it is His Will we know we can trust His heart.

Every fear we’d ever known rose in us at first.....were we crazy to move our family of 6 (soon to be 8) to a 3rd world country not knowing how long we’d be there? What would we do if we needed medical care while we were there? Where would we live? Would we be safe? What about malaria?

So many unknowns but the ONE thing we needed to know was sure ~ He was calling us to our babies here and we were to go, knowing we’d be held by the One who is Faithful and True!!!

We stepped out in faith and made the necessary arrangements. Brodie wrapped up things at work and got everything covered for him to leave for a month at a time, coming back for a week each month to check in with clients. The big kids wrapped up school early & Kaylee Grace and I wrapped up her preschool. We made living arrangements for what we think will be our “home” for a few months but we really don’t know for sure. We packed all we could into 9 large duffle bags and here we are!

The day we stepped off the plane was technically our “Gotcha Day” ~ our two newest joined their forever family and will never sleep another night in an orphanage! I think it’s finally starting to set into their little hearts that they really are with us FOREVER ~ this isn’t just another visit where we come and then have to leave.....this is it! The GIFT of folding them into our family here in their home country is indescribable!

Our first couple weeks here our oldest daughter wrote a blog post titled, “Life in Haiti: Simple But Not Easy” and I couldn't sum up our time here better than that! I love the simplicity of life here that is allowing us to bond in deep and rich ways with our two newest treasures. I can see what a difference this slowness of life has made for them. But I’ll be honest, 3rd world living has humbled us in more ways than I would have imagined!

It has exposed our hearts and how tightly we hold on to the comforts and pleasures of this world. The love of convenience, how addicted we are to cleanliness and life being predictable and easy, how entitled our hearts truly have become living in America where everything is at our fingertips. We’ve taken things like clean water, instant medical care and having a car for granted for so long we didn’t even realize how ungrateful we were for the simplest of things in our lives. So in many ways these first weeks here have been a stripping for us.....a pruning so that our lives can bear MORE FRUIT! Pruning is never fun and it never feels good.....but it is SO GOOD!!!

"Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1

Another thing the Lord has been bringing to mind for me is that in Philippians 4:12 when Paul talks about being content in all circumstances he says that he “learned” to be content in whatever circumstances he was in. I’ve always admired him for being content in all the horrific circumstances he was led into and I still do. But it stood out to me that he had to learn to be content. That means that he was tested and tried just like we are! That’s how he learned!! What other way to learn other than to be put in the situation? Pauls says whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.....he learned the secret of being content and that’s how he KNEW that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him! As we are put into circumstances that are so beyond our control, we learn that Jesus alone is our strength. He alone is our provision. He is our ALL and without Him we are nothing and we have nothing!!!

All the unknowns of 3rd world living and the discomforts here have stretched us beyond what we could have ever endured on our own. But the blessing of such a SLOW and very simple pace has allowed us to bond with our newest treasures in ways I just don’t think our big family would have at home.

I confess, when we first got here I didn't feel like this time was a "gift" from our Lord ~ it was hard and everything in me fought against the uncomfortable, unpredictable way of life I was suddenly plunged into. But I was reminded anew that ALL things from His Hand are GOOD ~ even when they don't look good or feel good......they ARE GOOD because HE is good!!!

As followers of Jesus Christ we are His children and heirs to all that is His (Romans 8:17). We belong to Him!

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:11

Because He is good and because all that is from Him is good, we can trust Him! Even when it doesn't look or feel good at first we can know it IS good because HE is good!!!

Out of His goodness and grace we have been entrusted with two more incredibly precious children. And we have been given the indescribable gift of learning to “consider everything a loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus our Lord, for whose sake we’ve lost all things.” (Philippians 3:8).