Sell All That You Have...

Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21

Ok, so we are not selling everything but it sure feels like it

and to be honest with you...

it is quiet freeing.

I am so proud of my children for making such huge sacrifices...

not because they have to but because they want to

because they see that material possessions mean nothing

compared to the life of a child.

Matthew 25:31-46

So we are having a yard sale Saturday

and all the proceeds go towards

our adoption fund.

Pray with me:

For pretty weather and lots of customers:)

For opportunities to share God's plan for adoption and His heart for the orphans!

For a successful sale!

For the support of our friends, family, co-workers, and community

as we act on what God has called us to do.

If you live in the Cullman Area please come out and support us!

Saturday, September 15th

@ Good Hope Peoples Bank

(across from Hardees)

It shall be an all day event... or until everything is gone!

(or I am totally exhausted!!)

PA!!!

PA

(Pre-approval)

We got the word today from our agency!

China

has

pre-approved

us

to bring Wang Xia Lin home!!

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,

for those who are called according to his purpose. 

Romans 8:28

We still have a long road ahead of us

and now

we will just focus on finishing our home study

and

getting our

Dossier to China!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

The CCCWA would like to ponder this a little longer and that leaves us with more time to wait.

With all this time on our hands I decided to do a little research on waiting...

I found this 21 page life changing paper on "Waiting on God" by J. Hampton Keathley III. You can read it for yourself: HERE

It is quiet brilliant and has really helped me to refocus my thinking and my feelings.

I am only on the 5th page and to be honest I have to take this one slow. There is so much I want to think and reflect on that it may just take me to the end of this adoption processes or longer...

Some great truths I want to share from the article about waiting:

1. We are so prone to take matters into our own hands, to follow our own schemes.
2. Waiting, despite our impatience and our dislike for it, is a vital element in life.
3. Waiting and Hoping are wound together like the strands of a rope.
4. Waiting means anticipation, expectation, confident hope in something that will take place.
5. Without knowledge and trust, we simply won't wait- at least not without a great deal of anxiety- and usually not without taking matters into our own hands.
6. The ability to wait on the Lord stems from being confident and focused on who God is and in what God is doing.
7. It means confidence in God's person: confidence in His wisdom, love, timing, understanding of our situation and that of the world.
8. It means knowing and trusting in God's principles, promises, purposes, and power.
9. Negatives and positives-(things we should and shouldn't do) wound together like the strands in a rope give great strength, courage, patience, and endurance.
10. Seek God's word:

Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrong doers. For they will wither quickly like the grass, and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. And he will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judegment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.

Psalm 37:1-9

One Day at a Time

Drowning in a pile of paperwork...

that is where I am.

I am content.

I am happy.

I am full of joy.

We are taking it one day at a time.

Putting our trust in the Lord

and

WAITING

and

WAITING

and

WAITING

for the words:

He is your son.



Dependant Upon God

For truly, I say to you,

if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain,

‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move,

and nothing will be impossible for you.”

 Matthew 17:20

It is our prayer to be completely dependant on God.

What does that mean?

In the same way that Jesus was dependent upon the Father, we now have to learn how to live dependent upon Jesus Christ. It is only as we surrender ourselves to Jesus and allow Him to live in and through us, that the work of God is accomplished in the world.

This is the way that God has chosen to work. There is no other way. In the same way that 2000 years ago God the Son walked upon this earth in His earthly body, today He walks upon this earth in us, in Christians. We are now the body of Christ here on earth. We are the vessel through which God's truth is poured out upon humanity.

 It is only as we learn to allow the Holy Spirit within us, to guide us into a dependent relationship with Jesus Christ, that our thinking begins to align with that of Gods. This is a process, a painful process at times, for we are stubborn and stupid, and we cling to that which we have always known and done.

(taken from Dr. Stephen D.)

Powerful life changing words!

As of last night, one mountain has been moved

and we were able to share our faith in the process.

 Praise God!

Our home is rented for the next two years

with the option to buy at the end!

In a sea of mountains, a few small ones

have been moved regarding

the adoption process.

It would be too lengthy to explain

but very thankful that

God is working in me

and through me.

If God is for us than who can be against us!!

God Can Move Mountains

I've struggled a lot the past few days.

It can be overwhelming to think about all the obstacles we have ahead of us.

Obstacles that only God can move.

I want to completely trust and rely on Him

not only through this adoption journey

but with my whole life.

Not an easy thing to do...

I want nothing more than

to stay in the center of God's will.

Right now,
nothing is going right...NOTHING!

We have no money.
We don't even know if Chad will have a job in a month.
We have been in negotiations with our current neighbors
about renting/buying our home and things are not looking good.
We found out today that we will not be able to send in our LOI
 until our home study is complete (6+ months)
and I don't know if our agency will let us hold his file that long.

So to make things clear we may be broke and jobless,
our renters are backing out, and we don't even know
if we are going to be able to pull this adoption off.

I want to have faith.
I want to completely trust Him.
I want to be dependant on Him.
I want His name to be glorified.

Lord, I lay this at the cross and put my trust in you.
A look back and a little chuckle... why do we get ourselves worked up so much?
Nothing is greater than His plan!
Chad was rehired, the renters signed a two year lease with us,
and God has provided the money needed thus far.
May I continue to come back to this page throughout this process as a reminder
that all things are in His hands.


“For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” – Romans 15:4

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” – 1 John 5:14-15

“The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.” – Psalms 145:18-19

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28

Will We Trust Him

Encouragement for the morning

Will We Trust Him?