Reminding Myself of God's Faithfulness

My heart has been so heavy lately. I feel a little bit helpless in this wait. I wish there was something I could do to speed up the process of bringing home our daughter. I keep thinking that all I can do is pray. Just this morning I was convicted of the way I think about prayer. I say, "it's all I can do" implying that it isn't much. As if talking to the creator of the universe and bringing my daughter before Her maker is not a big deal.

I pray the Lord will forgive me for my attitude. He has been so faithful to answer our prayers along the way. He is reminding me daily of the specific prayers He has answered. I want to list just a few here.

1. My friend told me this summer that the Lord was showing her to be more specific when she prayed. She said she was praying that we would receive a referral by November. At the time our waitlist number was in the teens for siblings and 50s for a girl. I thought it was sweet of her to pray for this, but in my mind I thought there was no way that could possibly happen. Well, we officially accepted our referral on October 3rd.

2. I prayed daily for over a month that Mia would be able to move from her previous orphanage to our agencies transition home. I became really weary in my prayers and felt like the Lord was urging me to ask others to pray as well. Another dear friend said she felt like God wanted her to start a 24 hour prayer chain for Mia. People from all over the country prayed for our daughter and by the next day she was moved to her new home. Amazing!! You can read about that here.

3. I don't think I have shared this on the blog yet, but our daughter has a history of seizures. Every morning I pray that she will not have a seizure that day and that God will keep her healthy and safe. She has not had one seizure since at least August. She has also not been sick since we accepted our referral in October. Anyone who has a child in an orphanage, or really has a child at all, knows this is pretty amazing. Our agency has to inform us any time she is sick and we have not received one call this entire time. Praise the Lord for this miracle. I continue to pray and believe that she will never have another seizure in her life!!!

4. We prayed that she would be receptive to us when we met her for the first time last month. The first time I met her she ran into my arms, said "mama" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Need I say more??

This list could go on and on. I know that God has not answered every single prayer the way I want Him to. I know that even though I am praying our file will not be sent to Nairobi, that it still may be sent there. I know that I could get a call today telling me our daughter is sick. None of this will negate how faithful our God is. He wants his children to come to Him, to present our requests to him.

Justin and I were talking about how we want our own children to "use their words" and tell us what they want instead of just cry or sulk about what they don't have. It doesn't mean we will always give them what they want, but we always want them to come to us and tell us. We give them what we feel is best for them. Our Heavenly Father also wants us to come to him and tell Him what we want.

So many days I start to worry and I feel the Lord saying to me, "Just talk to me about it. Just tell me how you feel."

This time my friend told me she is specifically praying that Mia Grace will be in our arms by Valentine's Day. I have other friends who are joining her in this prayer. If you feel led, you can pray this with us.

Oh, how I hope God answers that prayer, but even if He doesn't we trust and know that He has our daughter in the palm of His hands.