Surely he would oblige us and complete this process in our timing. Shouldn’t our faith be rewarded?
Three and a half years ago, my husband and I began the process to adopt a child. We each had different experiences where we felt God leading us in this very specific direction so we felt sure it was what he wanted us to do. We began the process of filling out an insane amount of paperwork, saving money, and hoping that within a year or two we would be bringing our child home to join our family.
Fast forward to today and we are still playing the waiting game with another couple of years to go. This isn’t what we had planned. We assumed that since we so quickly followed God’s call to adopt, surely he would oblige us and complete this process in our timing. Shouldn’t our faith be rewarded? Shouldn’t we get what we asked for exactly when we asked for it?
About a year into our adoption process, God revealed a part of scripture to me that I had never paid much attention to before. After the Israelites are rescued from slavery in Egypt, we see them begging God for answers, questioning his plan, and demanding to know the destination of their journey. Each time this happens, God simply says “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” He is referring them back to his greatest act of faithfulness in their lives. He is saying, “You are doubting that I know what I’m doing BUT remember who I am. I am the one who rescued you from slavery. I am the one who gave you freedom. I am the one who began this journey in the first place.” I remember reading this and thinking, “How can they doubt him? He has been nothing but faithful to them! Why don’t they believe him when he says he has a plan?” That’s when it hit me: I was a doubting Israelite. God has proven his faithfulness to me time and time again and the second things don’t go according to my plan, I question whether or not he even knows what he is doing.
I loved God’s reminder to his people in Israel and I knew it was important for me to have this reminder every day. In order to help us remember the ways God had been faithful in our lives, we put up a chalkboard in our house that we have to look at every time we walk into our bedroom. We started listing ways that God showed his unbelievable power and mercy throughout our adoption process. Every day we are reminded of his faithfulness in our journey. I want to never lose sight of that or forget those moments when he made a way for the impossible.
In Mark’s sermon yesterday, he asked a question that I kept asking myself all day long: “Am I willing to wait on a God who isn’t in nearly the hurry that I am?” Every day I have a choice. I can trust myself and the plan that I desire, or I can trust the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe and the plan that has been unfolding since the beginning of time.
I don’t know what it is that you’re waiting on today. Maybe it’s a job, a relationship, a cure, a baby. Whatever it is, I pray that you will be able to find peace in the fact that the Lord has not forgotten you or your desires. I pray that he will remind you of the faithfulness he has shown you leading up to this point. And I pray that when the plan is delivered, you have confidence in what it is because of how deeply and fully you are loved by the father.
