Barren and Blessed

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the  Lord  in the land of the living! Wait for the  Lord ; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the  Lord ! - Psalm 27:13-14 And then we waited. And waited. And waited. We got our clearances and fingerprints and physicals renewed every year. We changed different aspects of our profile a few times as we learned and understood more about the process, especially about the openness of adoption that is the current trend. We grew and changed a lot since first starting the adoption process. But we were still just waiting. And honestly it was very, very frustrating. It's difficult, and complicated, and expensive, and takes so much time. Why? Don't we always hear about the mass amounts of kids needing families? And about the opiate crisis flooding hospitals with addicted newborns that need a good home? We're a good home! Why is this taking so long?? I don't know, but it's frustrating. The average adoption wait ...

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. - Psalm 37:39-40 I was still in my pit, desperately trying to climb my way out. I took refuge in my Savior, for a while. And then I got angry. Again all the questions of why this was happening to me, only now with a more sinister hint to my thoughts. They threatened to pull me back down into the abyss. Didn't God care about my suffering? He is sovereign so why was he doing this to me? How could a good God let this happen? Sound familiar? Such common questions. But I was forgetting again that I'm not the center of the universe. Suffering is a guarantee for Christians walking the path of life in obedience to God's word. Intellectually I knew that. I needed to ask myself: How do I measure what is good? Can suffering be good? Suffering exists because of sin, whethe...

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. - 1 Pet. 5:5-6 I  remember so many times thinking: "Seriously God? This is your plan?" or "What on earth did I do to deserve this kind of trial?" or just "Why? I don't understand. Why?". Well, let me first say that I'm a slow learner. And now it sounds almost childish to my ears. But then every once in a while I'll catch myself thinking those same thoughts again. And that humbles me. In many respects I'm still that child. My sanctification isn't over. When I was in high school I said, "I would never want to be a teacher". Well, guess what I got my college degrees in and spent the first 12+ years of my adult life doing? God gifted me to be a teacher, so that's what I am and I love it. Years ago I said, ...