Thursday, February 27, 2014

Love is not always easy....

When I came home a few weeks ago from work, Brandon showed me this slideshow he put together. Of course I cried like a baby!!!!  It is of the first week of Phoebe's adoption in China.  Phoebe has given us permission to use it.  She was hesitant at first, but when we told her that God might use it to bring another child home, she immediately agreed!  What a sweet heart she has.  This slideshow is sad.  It shows a little girl who is angry, hurt, scared, confused, and who's world is spinning out of control.  It is a picture of a life without Jesus.  It is set to "Worth It" by Francesca Battistelli (love her!). This is the slideshow that is shown at the end of the service I spoke at Sunday and that I mentioned in my last post. Click on the link labeled "Worth It Slideshow" below to watch.


As you watch it, prayerfully consider the following questions:

1)        Is God calling you to care for the orphan?
2)        Who is the person that needs your AGAPE love.  The unconditional hard-to-do love…I pray your heart melted for that person.  They need Jesus and Jesus needs you to love them to Him.
3)       Are you willing to be the hands, the feet, and heartbeat of God?

Love is not always easy, but it is always worth it.

Worth It Slideshow




Monday, February 24, 2014

God's Story in Our Family

Yesterday morning, we were honored to be part of the morning worship service at Fairhaven Church in Demopolis where I grew up.  They have such a sweet fellowship.  They loved on my family and blessed our hearts.

Many people think it is crazy that I can stand and sing to thousands, but to utter one word without music leaves me frozen!  But it is true.  I almost cancelled a couple of weeks ago due to my fear.  But then, I claim that God has not given me a spirit of fear!  I pray I can always have the courage to do what He ask and that my life and the life of my family will always bring Him glory!

If you would like a narative on our journey, you can go to fairhavenchurch.net (can't figure out why this is not making a link...sorry) Scroll to the bottom and under live streaming, click on the route (mobile device, lap top..) you wish to watch.  It is the entire service.  In the beginning, I believe as the preacher said, Satan's imps were doing their best to distract us with the sound messing up...God took care of that quickly and everything worked out.

There is a special song in the service.  It is Lyric's Song.  As you know that is the name we have given our daughter waiting for us in China.  My amazingly talented friend, Deana Wood wrote it for us.  I love it and barely can get through it.  It talks about a "better love, a fire fierce, and gentle dove." See that is what it is about.  Yes, a child is given a forever family.  Yes a child is shown the love of a momma and daddy.  Yes a child is complety taken care of, but more than all that.....a child is shown the love of God.  It is a better love than we can give.  It is a fierce fire, yet it is gentle as a dove.  I pray that my girls will know this Love.  I pray my girls will love Jesus.  I pray they have a relationship with Him.

I hope you enjoy God's Story in Our Lives.....so far!!!

God bless

Oh....at the end of the service we showed a slideshow set to Worth It by Francessca Battistelli.  We are working on getting it uploaded to the blog, but so far have been unsuccessful.  Hope to have it soon so you can experience that moment with us.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Dreams......

We all have dreams.  Sometimes they come to reality a little bit different than we expect and sometimes they change as we grow.  Sometimes we chase the wrong dreams. Sometimes they are crushed.  Sometimes our dreams are delayed because we feel the need to share them with others who don't believe and discourage us. But sometimes they come true right before our eyes.  That is the case with my family.  I have the most beautifully messed up wonderful family in the world.  Yesterday I was telling someone how all my girls came to me and said that no one can tell me they are not meant to be my girls!  All three of their stories are incredible.  They are my dream come true!  You know pieces of Eden's and Phoebe's stories....you are very close to hearing about Lyric's story.  We were logged in to China's system yesterday (Happy Valentine's day from our Father!)  Now we are being told that we will wait about 2-4 months for the next step which will allow us to share a little bit about Lyric.  My gut says something different.  My gut says the process will go quickly.  It may just be the fire that God has ignited for this child in my heart, but I am excited to see what the time frame will be.

I am a bit nervous about the finances of this journey, but I believe God is whispering to trust and be still and see what He does.  I keep going back to Sara Young's writings in Jesus Calling for January 9th:  "If you decide on a course of action that is lined up with my will, nothing on Heaven or Earth can stop you!" I am so in love with Jesus.  I love that He is near, that He cares for me and my family.  That He chose to put us together.  That He gave me a husband who has a heart the size of Texas for the orphan and pushes me to adoption when all I can see are my circumstances.

Going back to dreams....
Over the Christmas holiday, we were in South Alabama visiting family.  After we came home, Austin, one of Brandon's cousins, sends me a message on Facebook.  He told me of a dream he had and I was moved to tears and chills and laughter,  and quite frankly....have you ever seen the movie End of the Spear?  If not, I recommend it.  There is a moment when the missionaries are being attacked by the the tribe they are there to minister to and the tribe stops chasing them and looks scared to death.  Later in the movie, one of the tribe members tells the son of one of the missionaries that they saw hundreds of people on the mountain behind the missionaries and became afraid and ran.  The feeling I got in the movie was the same feeling I got reading about this dream of Austin's.  The bible says we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (the saints of old)....I wonder if that is who Austin saw!!!

This his Facebook message:
"Hey,  I just had a realization of a dream I had the other night.  I saw 4 people running down this path as hard as they could, never stopping.  I couldn't make out any faces, then I began to notice there were all these people standing on the side of the path.  I then realized they were angels all the way down the path.
The 4 people ran day and night, never stopping.  Then they got to the end and there was a literal hoop of fire they jumped through without even stopping to think about it.  Then more people came and stood around the hoop looking and waiting on something.  Then the 4 people emerged from the hoop, but they had one more person with them.  Everyone was so overjoyed and happy.  Then I woke up, felt crazy and asked God to explain what it all meant.  The next day it was all I could think about.
That next night, I had the same dream but at the very end, I saw that the people running were a family and the only face I could make out was the mother .....It was YOU!  .....and your journey to bring home another child."