I learned even MORE.....

The outpouring of responses from my last blog was COMPLETELY and OVERWHELMINGLY shocking!  I am a little person in the land of blogging.  I have learned a lot of things that have changed me already.
When Scott and i were being led to adopt, well, the timing was HORRIBLE!!!  Our eldest daughter was getting married, Scott had just started a job that was nine hours away and would mean that he would only be home for 6 days every 6-8 weeks, our toddler with DS had MAJOR eating issues, and the list was a MILE long!  It just did NOT make ANY logical sense!  It did NOT make any person who likes their 'ducks in a row' kind of life feel like it could be right!  YET, we kept going back to what the Lord was saying.....and over and over and over and over again....we were to adopt whether it made sense to anyone else or not!!!  The verse just kept going over and over again in our heads and out of our mouths...God's ways are NOT our ways!!!
Well, i have to tell you something that was going on in my mind since Ethan has been home and i have seen multiple families ALREADY going back to bring more children into their lives.  My thoughts went something like this.  WOW!  I wonder what i am doing wrong in that there is NO WAY that i could EVER bring ANOTHER child into our home when Ethan isn't really where he should be in his adjustment, our family life is just crazy, Sophina is still having eating issues that take hours a day, and we have had enough craziness.  What i found out through MULTIPLE messages, messages in a private group, FB responses and your responses on here is something i never would have guessed!
I heard from many people who have already adopted and have adopted recently and people who adopted more than one child at a time and do you know what was AMAZING TO ME!?!?!?!  Their children were still struggling with adjustment, were still having major affects from the orphanage, were still trying to figure out how to live in a house with a family, etc..... THEIR LIVES WERE NOT ALL back to 'normal' yet.  "Ducks in a row".....well, that went out the window!  Where is that in the Bible anyway? ;)
Another amazing thing is that i have quite a few friends who are adopting again and it makes absolutely ZERO 'logical sense' or 'earthly sense' BUT when it is put into God's perspective- it is PERFECT!!!  Shannon, with her family, are adopting again.......and are at peace in knowing that this is what God has asked of them.....at a time that to the outside world -doesn't make sense.  Another friend, whose daughter was at the same orphanage as our Ethan and also adopted two others on that trip AFTER we brought home Ethan, is also adopting again!  People are surprised as it has been a life of adjustments YET GOD ASKED!!!  They answered with obedience!  Another dear friend is one who i have also asked prayers for as her son went to Jesus almost five months ago.....and in the middle of their intense grief.....God has asked them to bring home a sibling group of three children home!  God called them, they obeyed!!!  What i have realized is that the outside world may think that this is crazy BUT get this.......it isn't about what the outside world is believing is best for a family, it is what GOD thinks is best!
This past group of times at our home school group i have been a helper in a class that i have an absolute PASSION for and that is the Heroes of the Faith series which shares our forefathers (foremothers) in a biography form from their childhood and throughout their lives.  Well, this class has been doing Gladys Aylward -  a single woman who took care of over 200-TWO HUNDRED orphans!!!  The first child was a little girl who was being sold right before her eyes.  She didn't have food, she didn't have a room, clothes, or ANYTHING for a little girl and YET......she adopted her on the spot!  Yes, do not give me all of the excuses as to why that couldn't work today as the POINT is that it did NOT make sense LOGICALLY YET God asked her and she INSTANTLY said YES!!!
God does NOT make sense when He asks MORE of us than we are capable of!  What is amazing is that i think that He does it all the time and we get too full of fear, fear of failure, what others will think of us, fear of messing it all up and hearing our friends say-"i told you so".  What Gladys Aylward and what some of my friends are finding is that instead of getting PRAYER support and encouragement from the people who believe in the God of miracles.....they are getting told all of the reasons why the timing is NOT right, why it can't work, a sense of gossip happening etc.
The FORTY plus books that are done by YWAM are called Christian Heroes: Then & Now and are FULL of people who make absolutely ZERO sense to the world around them and do you know what? GOD USES THEM!!!  God, in fact, blows the minds of people all around them as no one can understand!  No one could figure out HOW Gladys could care for over 200 children AND do all that she was doing besides that,  Eric Liddell did NOT make sense in refusing to run on a Sabbath, George Muller cared for over ten THOUSAND children in Bristol,  Jim Elliot said a famous quote that we all love to say BUT it is one thing to say it and another to LIVE it (or to watch as someone ELSE does it) "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose," and MANY MANY more names that you all would know!  What is 'funny' to me is that we all LOVE to read about them BUT IF we were to have lived back in their day.....what would my response have been to them when they told me what God had asked of them!?  What would YOUR response have been?
SO, all of this to say......if God is calling you to DO SOMETHING that is NOT making any sense here on earth.....i PRAY that you will DO. IT.  AND i am also going to add this......i pray that not only will people SAY that they are supporting you BUT WILL support you through words of encouragement, financial, PRAYERS and ways of DOING WHAT THEY CAN!!!
The Lord does not ask us to be perfect BEFORE we have Him in our life- THAT is what HE is all about.....perfecting US!  It is just like this in our LIVING OUT our CHRISTian walk....He doesn't ask us to have everything all 'set up' so we are "ready to DO His will"......we just need to DO IT WHEN HE ASKS!!!  No matter if our neighbors, friends, family and acquaintances think that we are NOT doing what we SHOULD be!  GOD is the ONE who we will stand before someday and HE is the One we will have to answer to!
This was written on Saturday night and this morning i heard a sermon which the pastor was talking about Abraham and how HE OBEYED God in such a way that was NOT easy and was FULL of faith YET, get this---AFTER he obeyed Abraham was living in a time of HORRIBLE famine!  The pastor said something that i also want us ALL to remember in OUR times of doubt AND for those who are watching someone step out in faith.....JUST because someone followed God in obedience and faith does NOT mean that all is going to go well!!!  We or they may be put into a famine!!!  Amazing how God brought that time for me to be able to hear that part of the sermon ( a miracle in itself this morning ;) )
PS  I have permission from the THREE SPECIFIC families that i spoke of and i will be continuing to show US how we can HELP them in their OBEDIENCE!!!