I have been pretty floored by the amount of people that have found us through this blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and have shown up in a big way to support our adoption. I got a check in the mail yesterday from a lady who found our blog a couple months back… God used it to stir her heart for us and she felt Him leading her to give to us. She has also been a huge encouragement via email about a lot of adoption timing issues she has dealt with herself. Today came another check and a card from a girl I am “friends” with on Facebook that wanted to let us know she’s praying for us. These two ladies are pretty much strangers, but they support us, love us, pray for us, encourage us, and give to us when they don’t have that much themselves.
And then there are the friends who randomly hand us checks at get-togethers, or send them in the mail. There’s at least 5 people everyday who tell me they’re praying for us, thinking of us, and believing God for great things in this adoption. People leave comments on this blog and send emails weekly to tell us they are standing with us. Add to that the TONS of people I have met throughout this entire experience that have become great friends… When I feel so defeated and so upset by the slowness of this process and all the huge obstacles we have encountered, I remember that there are SO many people out there lifting us up. Even when those closest to us tear us down, He finds perfect strangers to build us back up. Sometimes I think, “but they barely even know us…”, but then I know that GOD knows us. He knows right where we are. He knows our hearts, our dreams, our fears, our regrets, our hurts, our pasts, our futures, our EVERYTHING. And He sends just the right people at just the right time to remind us of that.
This holiday season, allow God to speak to your heart about someone you barely know. Maybe it’s someone at work, or your postal worker, or the gas station attendant, or someone at church… Let Him break your heart for someone else’s situation (because yours probably isn’t as bad as it gets). Let Him use you to uplift some parents that really need it, or surprise some kids with some love like they’ve never known. Take your party or family leftovers to some homeless people living under an overpass, hungry and freezing. Spend time with someone who has no one.
God has broken my heart for a lot of people this Christmas, but for a specific set of kids in particular. I can’t buy them tons of gifts or give them a lot of things, but I can shower them with love, time, affection, attention, praise and encouragement. Who does God want you to lift up this year? What are you going to do about it?
