It's difficult to put into words what has transpired over the past 15 months since I last posted to this blog. Shortly after I penned those last words on Habakkuk, we got an email saying that the little girl that our family had been trying to adopt for the past 2 1/2 years had been assigned to another family. As the story unfolded it became clear that much foul play had been involved. We were suddenly faced with fighting a very corrupt attorney general in a foreign country, and we knew NO ONE who could help us. Truth be known, we might have just let her go - with much pain and heartache - had God not specifically made it clear to our family that this little girl belonged with us. That in itself is a long story, but suffice it to say, we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God did not want us to walk away and thus we were thrust into a 6 month long battle of epic proportions.
Now let's be clear on one thing. God loves the orphan. And as His body we are called to do no less, whatever that looks like. Oh, how much easier said than done this is! To love the one child God had placed on our hearts, we have paid a much higher price that I could have imagined when we first began this journey. When we made the decision to say yes to God, to bring justice to this one little girl, we had an idea that things might be difficult. The country she lived in was not really open to adoptions. Our agency had never facilitated an adoption from there before. She would be four by the time we got her home, so we would be dealing with adopting an older child. Indeed she turned out to be nearly 5 when we did bring her home at the end of a three year long process. We knew some of the sad details of her little short life and figured there would be emotional needs beyond our capability to deal with...that we would have to rely fully on the Lord's guidance, wisdom and healing for her. But truly we had no idea that adopting her would mean standing up to a foreign "king" and trusting God to save us...and her. That it would mean 3 months of nearly 10 hours a day of emails and phone calls and letters desperately fighting to see her placed where we knew God wanted her. That ultimately God would part the sea in front of us just as the enemy was bearing down on us. His deliverance of our little girl into our family is nothing short of a total miracle.
But today, as I sit here, I know that she would not be here had we not engaged this battle. Ultimately, God would be the One and Only reason she would be here, but He asked us to fight. And so we did. And....we paid a huge price. financially. emotionally. physically. But we emerged carrying treasure. Words can't express the feeling of really knowing the weight that God carries in His heart for one child. I can't really even begin to explain what it is to know that how we fought for our daughter is how he fights for us - each of us - as the enemy wages war against our souls to deliver us to a destination that was not meant to be ours. There is something holy about the battle we engaged as we had the unique privilege to glimpse God's heart in a way I don't believe we ever would have otherwise. And we are changed.
But can I confide something in you? The battle that we fought to bring our daughter into our family, as crazy and unbelievable as it was, is nothing compared to the battle we have fought since we got her home. Look for Part 2 as I share something that God has laid on my heart to share as I emerge from the past 9 months of battling the darkness inside my own heart and my daughter's.
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