1/15

Yesterday, I wrote up this great post and lost it at the end. I got so mad, I had to go to bed, so today, I am attempting to rewrite it. Interestingly enough, it was about perserverance! Anyway, last week I was driving to a clients home and saw a sign outside a church. It said that "Faith is not a one time event". For some reason this really stuck in my head and I felt the truth of that simple statement. Then I went to church on Sunday and what do you think our pastor was talking about? Our scripture was James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance. Perservarance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything". And what do you know one of the first things Pastor Tim said was "Faith is not a one time event"! He spoke about how God uses trials in our lives because He loves us so much that He wants to bring us to where we need to be in our faith. He wants us to have a faith of character, authenticity, and integrity and everytime we face a trial in our lives we grow and mature and develop a closer relationship with God. God is always with us along these trials and these trials allow perserverance to do its job. I know that I am probably not sayint all this correctly, however, I think you probably get the point. Anyway, I was thinking about all of this and especially about our adoption journey and what a journey of faith it is. Tim and I have grown as individuals, as a couple, and in our faith and relationship with God. One of the things that we are learning to do better is to rely on God for everything and give it all up to Him. We trust that God has it all under control and has a plan to bring our child home in His timing. We have been able to (at least most of the time!) give all our worries to Him and allow Him to take care of them. The biggest area of worry is about being able to pay for the adoption, as it is so expensive. However, everytime we start to think about this and worry, we have been able to step back and give it to God and He has brought us peace. So, much so that my mom worries about this more than I do! We know that God is great and He can do anything and He will help us to complete this adoption journey. Tim is leaving at 4am this morning to take a group of Sr. High kids to a conference in Orange Beach, Al. Please pray for them to have a safe journey and to grow in their relationship with our Lord. Also, on another note, this marks the one year anniversary of the begining of our adoption journey. When Tim came home from the same conference last year, God placed adoption on his heart and here we are!