Ties that Bind

When Marty and I started our adoption journey, we were attending a church where we had been members for 10 years. We loved our church family (still do), but God was clearly calling us out of that body and into a new one. We fought Him. We struggled for months with the decision to leave. We met with our Pastor, who we love and respect. We shed tears. We were like disobedient children, who hold their hands over their ears, so they don't have to hear what their Daddy is saying. We had just returned to our beloved church family after 5 years away while Marty was in the Navy. Yet, God was clearly telling us to move from that place. Our spirits had been fed and ministered to after a long, dry spell and now, we had to leave. Much like Abraham, we didn't know where we were headed only that we were following God.

We left that church and were at home for about 4 weeks, just praying that God would lead us where He wanted us. We live in a small town and we heard about a church that we had never heard of before. We live in the Bible belt and there are a lot of churches in our town. After 2 weeks, God made it clear that we were to go to this new church. We went and it was different. Not bad or good different, just different than anywhere we'd been before. We hesitated to share our adoption journey, because we didn't want anyone to feel like we were coming looking for financial assistance. We were embraced and made to feel like part of the family. We are growing, so much. Our faith is being stretched and challenged and we are excited about this new beginning.

I know, you're thinking get to the point, already. This is an adoption blog and what in the world does this have to do with adoption? It's coming. Within a month of being at our new church, we were asked to give our testimony about our adoption and how God led us to our boys. Little did we know that there was a family in the congregation, who had been called to special needs adoption, but had put it on the back burner while dealing with some other things. I have been in contact with the Mom (Chandres) of this family for a few weeks now on a fairly regular basis. I have been privileged to have an inside look at how God has opened doors and led them to their daughter.

My friend, Chandres and her husband, Scott are in the process of committing to their daughter this week. She is nine years old, she sports an extra chromosome and she's living in the same country as our boys. Can you believe how good God is? He is so faithful! At times, this has been a lonely journey, but when we started out, our prayer was that other families in our church would watch our journey and be inspired to bring home their own children. God answered! He had to move us to a new church family, so that He could provide the very thing we were praying for and now, it all makes sense.

I hope this encourages you to say, "Yes" to God, even when it's painful, even when it's illogical, even when it's uncomfortable. He always has a plan. He just needs us to be obedient. He alone can thread our hearts together with the ties that bind. We are forever bound to that first church family. We love them and we grew up so much in our faith under that ministry. Now, we have the privilege of being tied to another church family. The best part is knowing that in the end we are all connected by the same thread. The crimson red thread, that is Jesus Christ, himself. He has tied us each together and made us stronger with His love.

My friend, Chandres has a blog and they also have a need. They are sending their commitment documents tomorrow and they need to send $7,000 within 7 days of sending the documents. This is the upfront cost and it's not tax-deductible if you give, but I know many of you just don't care about the tax-deduction and want to help. Here's the link to their blog Upcycled Purpose. There's so much in that name. Chandres started the blog as a place to display the projects she was working on. Turning trash into treasures. It has morphed into their adoption blog and I think God knew all along what the real Upcycled Purpose for Chandres and Scott's journey was going to be. Taking a child that another society deemed unworthy of love and bringing her home to be a daughter of the house. That's an Upcycled Purpose to get excited about.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Do Something!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy