Sunday, May 23, 2010

There is always room for love.

Very rarely in life are you affirmed by God's Spirit that you are doing the exact right thing at the exact right moment. Many times, I can look back on my life and see how God was working on me to accomplish something or 'see' something He was trying to show me. You know how the saying goes- hind sight is 20/20.

God has placed on our hearts the desire to adopt and a love for orphans who are needing to be a part of family- not just our family, but to know the love of God's Kingdom here on earth. We have struggled with our own weaknesses of fear, unknowns, and excuse after excuse, but we came to the realization that God is bigger than all of that.

So, here we are...nothing looks different from the outside- our daily routine (whatever routine we can manage!) hasn't changed, we don't look any different, and we are still involved with the same things as before. At the same time, everything has changed. A piece of my heart (quite a large chunk) is halfway across the world in a country that has been battered with civil war, disease, starvation, and poverty. My prayers and thoughts are charged with pleas to God for a child I have never seen and may not be born yet. I have given up on any sort of control in this situation and have been forced to rely FULLY on God. It is a somewhat scary place to be, but I believe that God does His best work when I do less work. We feel very vulnerable to have our hopes and desires so deeply rooted in something that has no guarantees- but I guess that's how all of life is, right? Just another lesson to trust that God knows what He is doing.

We ask for your prayers during this time. Prayers for our fears and anxieties to be relieved, for us to find joy during the waiting, for the well-being of the child who will become a part of our family, and for the future of our growing family. We hope and pray that we can continue to live in the will of God and trust in Him no matter what.

Now for less of me and more of Him:
Ephesians 1:4-6
"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."

It's pretty simple. God created us not knowing what we would choose to do, who to be, or who to follow. Regardless of that, He chose to adopt us, through Jesus, into His family so that we would be rewarded with grace, love, and eternal life. This has been our greatest example and reasoning for adopting. As undeserving as I am, I have been given the greatest gift of all through adoption. We feel called to live out that 'no strings attached' love through adoption within our family.

So, hopefully by the summer/fall of next year, we will be adding a little Rwandan child to our family. And that makes me smile.



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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blessings on you in your adoption journey. I have read your blog for awhile...found it through mutual friends. We are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. It is a exhilarating, scary, exciting, and faith building process!

Sara

Cassie said...

So beyond excited for you!!! I LOVE that you and my sister will have similar timelines, too! They'll be ACU bound together :)

I am so proud of you and CANNOT wait to meet your little one!! Blessings to ALL 5 of you on this journey!

*Courtney* said...

Kara, that is awesome! Many blessings on this special journey for you and your family. God is so good!

Lauren said...

Oh my goodness, Kara! How blessed that little Rwandan baby boy or girl will be. You and Zach live such authentic cross-formed lives that constantly point others to the feet of Jesus. Thank you for loving all of God's children and for showing each of them how deeply you feel called to mother them spiritually or in a physical sense.

JENNY said...

That is AWESOME, Kara! We will be praying for your family. I'm so excited for you guys!

We hope to do the same someday, too. :)

Anonymous said...

Some little child is going to be so lucky and blessed to be loved by you, Zach, Will and Levi. What a precious family you already are and how much more precious you will be in the future.

Cindy Stewart

summer said...

Oh, Kara! That is WONDERFUL! I can't wait to watch your story unfold and see how God BLESSES your sweet family and the precious one He brings into it.

Kathy said...

Kara, we are so proud of you and Zach and we're thrilled about having another sweet grandchild. It's going to be an exciting year of anticipation and faith.

Kate said...

I am proud and excited to pray for you along this journey. I can't wait to see what God has in store and how your family will be blessed. I love thinking that there is a little child across the world that God has already chosen to be a Sheets!

hannah said...

That is going to be one lucky kid! I hope everything goes well!

Ashley said...

What sweet words! Blessings as you travel this journey!

mcjacobsjournal said...

Kara! I'm so glad to read your official announcement!! And, I'm SO very glad to be walking this road with you! I completely feel every single thing you wrote, and am excited to see how the Lord will change us all as we take this journey closer to His heart. It's such a strange feeling to walk by total faith, isn't it? We will certainly be praying for your walk, as well as for your precious, beautiful, Rwandan baby.

SO EXCITED to be doing this at the same time! Congratulations, friends!!

Shannon Burton said...

Love your heart in this blog. We are so excited for you guys and are praying for the new addition(s) to your family!

kei said...

wow im blessed super... super inspiring..i love the kids!
nice heart maam..