You have ordained every breath we take, in pleasure or pain, there is no mistake
Gladness and grief, both are in Your hand, and sufferings brief carry out your plan
And our fleeting sorrows, will yield an endless prize
When some bright tomorrow, we’ll see You with our eyes, and
Grace upon Grace flows down, flows down
Grace upon Grace flows down, flows down
Through the precious blood of Christ.”
These words released a floodgate in me today. I’m going to try to find words to tell you all the reasons why.
As many of you know, it was in May of this year that we made the decision to adopt. From day one we have prayed for God’s protection of our daughter. We didn’t know who she was, and in fact thought she was in Ukraine at that point in the process.
Fast-forward a few months, we finish our homestudy, and a couple of weeks later we get an email from our social worker. She has found a file of a little girl who she thinks would be right for our family. There were many pictures we were able to view, which is quite unusual. After we had decided that this was indeed our Lily Belle, Jeff off-handedly made the comment that the pictures we were viewing were older than we thought, having been taken in May.
As it turns out, our agency began a new partnership with our daughter’s orphanage, and the pictures were taken on their first trip to meet the orphans and check them out medically. in May. The exact same month that we started praying for our daughter. What this means is that God called our family to adopt, then he led us to Lifeline. He then orchestrated this new partnership with her specific orphanage, exactly at the time we applied to adopt. He then caused our social worker to send us a file long before we were in the right stage to get referrals.
Y’all, He was there when she was abandoned. He was with her in her temporary sorrow. God had a plan even in the pain and trauma, and he was pursuing her on our behalf long before we knew her. Not only on our behalf, but for his kingdom. He has chosen her to be placed in our home, to be raised to know and love him. His grace is ruthless, and it will not stop until his plan is accomplished. I praise God that in pleasure or pain, there is no mistake, and that our sufferings, however hard, are brief and serve to carry out his eternal plans.