4.03.13
i am reminded, "do not fear..."
"Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you....It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”{Deuteronomy 31.6, 8}
it's not a new thing for me to come to you. to beg you to pray. it's becoming a part of who ben and i are, along with our children, to try and attempt the risks God puts before us. we refuse to settle. we are rejecting status quo. we, like Moses, have seen too much to doubt His movement. His presence. His goodness, love, protection, provision. you've walked with us on some or all of our journey to rejoice and pray alongside us, haven't you?
as you know we were matched with "K" on March 1. the director of the orphanage has been having difficulty uploading her profile and matching us online, therefore we have yet to see photos, have her medical history reviewed by a stateside pediatrician, or know her personal history.
we were told last friday (march 22) that the local doctor was there for routine exams and when that was complete, the director would be uploading her profile and matching us online.
note: we cannot move forward; do nothing until he does this!
we got word this past thursday (march 28) that K's profile will not be uploaded because he (the director of the orphanage) has an expired license. what this means, we are unsure. our communication always runs from us to american agency to in-country personnel to orphanage. so you can see how slow communication is and how many channels it has to go through.
this is a blow to us. we've been waiting any moment for her photo to come through online. we weren't waiting for a step backwards.
what we know is that our agency is in contact with CARA (that's India's branch of gov't that oversees all adoptions) to see what this means for the director and for us. we hope and pray that while the director gets his license renewed that he can still proceed with the referral, but we realize this might not be the case.
we are awaiting news of what an expired license does to our process.
of what it means for the orphanage.
and what will happen next.
this reminds me of a story of amy carmichael,
an advocate for trafficked girls in india in the early 1900's.
"we believe there is some connection between knowing and caring and praying, and what happens afterward. otherwise we should leave the darkness to cover the things that belong to the dark."
she had prayed hard for a father to relinquish over his 6 month old daughter to their care rather than give her to the temple house where she could be trafficked. this infant was nearing starvation and the father was emphatic about getting money from the temple house for his baby.
amy and others gathered to pray. "we waited upon God, whose touch turns hard rocks into standing water and flint stone into a springing well, beseeching him to deal with the father's heart and make it melt and yield."
while they waited for the father's decision and as the child grew closer to starvation, someone called joyously, "come! the father stands outside....he has brought the baby back!"
the child had no pulse, but after a few restorative hours, life returned to her feeble body! when amy carmichael thought about the father, she said, "...a Power which which he did not reckon had him in sight; and a Hand was laid upon him, and it bend him like a reed."
{taken from Spiritual Classics, edited by Richard Foster & Emilie Griffin, pages 360-367}
we ask again for continued, unceasing prayer to be offered up on behalf of precious "K" who waits, not knowing that a family is readying themselves for her and loves her so very much.
please pray this prayer taken from amy carmichael:
we wait upon You, O God, whose touch turns hard rocks into standing water and flint stone into a springing well. we beseech You to deal with the orphanage director and the personnel of CARA's hearts to melt and yield. we ask that Your Power and Your Hand be upon them and that you bend them like a reed.
we need a person of peace to step in and take charge and advocate for K and us.
we need favor with CARA and this orphanage.
our boys are boldly praying.
we are praying in faith.
will you intercede on behalf of K and the other orphans at this orphanage?
in the meantime, we sit not in fear. how can we?
we sang of Christ's resurrection power on Sunday.
it's not a once a year celebration, but a daily reality that..
"if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." {Romans 8.11}