One Tiny Pebble and Tons of Ripples

I began my day today with a great praise in my spirit.  The song, "I Give Myself Away" by William McDowell was resonating in my spirit.  I quickly got ready for work.  Jumped in my truck and off I went to start the day.  I arrived at school still singing "I Give Myself Away."  Entered my classroom and began repeating over and over again "My life is not my own. To you I belong."

The students entered the room and I was greeted with many hugs. I quickly ushered them on their knees to pray.  My class starts the school day everyday in prayer.  I walked around the room and as I was praying I heard someone say, "Help me give you more."  Wow!  A second grader pleading with God to increase in them to give more.

As the day went along I had a fantastic day at school. At home I began to reflect on my day and yet again the song began to resonate in my spirit , "My life is not my own. To you I belong."  And that prompted me to open up my prayer journal and read entries from the past five years. I am so grateful that God had me start this journal becuase I documented my request before God, When He answered, and also When I saw the request fulfilled.

God has been good to me.  Over the past five years I have proof that He has never failed me.  At times even when I was in despair, I could turn the pages and see how God himself showed to be mighty in battle.  The ripple effect.  See some people use the ripple effect in regards to business.  The ripple effect is a theory that if a pebble is dropped in the middle of a pool of water, the pebble would ultimately create several ripples that expand outwardly from the point of origin.  

The pebble in my life was the day that God saved me.  From that day to this...I have chosen to live my life in His plan.  The expanding ripples are the events that have occurred from me bowing my will to His and living by faith.  This faith walk has ushered me into a new level of faith and inturn has me trusting God with me, my life, my thoughts, my actions...all of me.  I have quickly realized that even this adoption has been ordained as such a time as this. Adoption is not our second plan to having a family but I am quickly realizing that it is God's first plan for my family.

I began to think about how for the past five years Shawn and I parented our neice.  We had the amazing opportunity to impart into her Godly princples while all along God was preparing us to love someone we did not birth. God in His infinite wisdom knew that we would have to learn how to love someone whole heartedly before he could trust us with our own treasures from Ethiopia. 

I can recall the day when one of my good friends pulled me to the side, and hesitantly told me that God is demanding that I love like he is calling for me to love. Wow....as I think back I can see how that one conversation changed how I viewed my life at that point. See, I had to learn how to love and take care of a child that was not my own before God could allow us to start this journey. 

 I am fully aware that my first two children will come from two people who graciously humbled themselves and made a really hard decision to give up their babies for various reasons.  And then I started searching the scriptures about adoption and I found that God chose adoption for many people in the Bible to save them.  I then found this video which I thought was great!  Check it out.  Isn't God AMAZING!