2/20/2008

It is Wed night about 930pm and I am so filled with joy right now I cant stand it. This all started with a message I heard at Moody Bible Institutes Founders Week. On Friday 2/8 during the morning session the speaker was Dennis Rainey. He spoke passionately of the incredible need for the church to rise up and fill the gap for orphans in the US and all over the world. Millions overseas and thousands here in the states. I was broken. God moved in my heart. Since I returned from Chicago God has reinforced his call on me so many times and in so many amazing ways it blows my mind. Out of the blue this week, Lisa's friend Alicia emails asking Lisa to pray for a couple trying to adopt a Vietnamese orphan and they are encountering obstacles. I overheard Lisa telling one of her friends on the phone some days later it was the first time she had ever been asked to pray for an adoption from overseas like this. Also, when I came back from Moody, my co-teacher and good friend at my church asked the class to begin going through the book of Ephesians. I was to teach chapter one. During the week as I was preparing I came to verse 5 and i was amazed at Gods sense of guidance. Verse 5 reads- Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. It struck me for the first time as I began to dig deeper that week, how God had adopted me into his family. The email from Alicia and the thought of this verse God brought to my mind about 5 minutes from each other. I remember how pumped up I was as God had begun to lovingly and patiently show me how real his call was to me. Lets just say it was one of those God moments. Later then on Sunday when I taught on chapter one I shared witht he class what God was burdening me about and afterwords a fairly new member of the class, Patti Nelson approaches me and shares how she was adopted from Korea. She was really encouraging to both Lisa and I that day. Later during the main service one of Pastor Ed's words in his outline was adopt. I smiled. Later Patti would email us and she told us how amazed she was and that she could see from across the auditorium how I had smiled. Again, Patti really encouraged us. Lisa and I have been reading all sorts of adoption books from the library. We have several packets from adoption agencies to read and watch their dvd presentations. Its been awesome. Like one of the speakers at Moody this year said, " When God shows up he shows off" and he certainly has.