Known by God

A devotional I read today by Kerry Hasenbalg:
"The Lord will work out his plans for my life - for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don't abandon me, for you made me." Psalm 138: 8

Statistics like "143 million orphans worldwide" and "every 14 seconds another child is orphaned by HIV/AIDS" can be overwhelming and paralyzing. Yet, it is critical to remember that God knows each one of these children individually - knows their specific circumstances- and that He has unique plans and desires for them. Thinking that helping one child will not do much to alleviate such great suffering is a lie. It makes a profound difference in that child's life and affects everyone whom she touches. Let us imagine God's perspective. When someone adopts one of these orphans, it is as though God is saying, "Little one, you are so special to me. I knew where you were, and I picked you out and placed you here - I knew you would be here from the beginning of time."

The King of  kings is serious about being the father to fatherless. Orphans are members of God's royal family, and He has a plan for each one of his princes and princesses. The nameless and faceless orphan found in statistics is by no means nameless and faceless to God! In the world of adoption, we can be confident that nothing surprises our God, and what may look like "plan B" for us or our children may in fact have been God's "plan A" all along. 

I loved reading this today! It reminded me of the fact that God has a plan for Aaron and I, and our little one. The timing will be perfect. The specific child will be the one God wanted placed in our family! Even though there are so many things that we can sit and fret about: timing, money, paperwork, government agencies etc. There is really no point to worrying. As scripture put it: "who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Who of you by worrying can add a single dollar to his bank account, or a single thing to help speed up the process, or a single way to identify the child sooner. What can my worrying do? Only cause me to be miserable throughout the process (and others around me for that matter!). So today, instead of worrying about all of this, today I will simply thank the Lord for bringing us this far in the process. I'll praise Him for having the timing and control in His hands, and rest in the fact that there is nothing I can do! God's got this one...