I can't believe it was two years ago that Grace was placed in our arms. The emotions of that day are still so fresh, and I am still amazed at how God moved to place that precious little lady into our family forever.
God has really put on my heart to share this week how Grace came to be part of our family. The story still blows my mind - and makes me so excited to watch His plans for her unfold in her life.
The thought of adoption had come up before we were even married - but as our lives unfolded, we decided that our family was complete with four children. WE were done. God most certainly wasn't. On a Sunday morning in late January 2004 we were in church and worshipping along with a song called "I See The Lord". During this song, I saw her. As sure as I am seeing this computer that I'm typing on - I saw a beautiful little Asian girl. Her eyes stood out to me as so beautiful, so distinctive. As I continued to worship I heard the Lord speak - "She's yours. Her name is Grace." (feel free to grab your hankies now, I need one myself) At that point I was crying - reeling - with what had been revealed. And I did what I seem to always do - I questioned God. And gave a load of excuses. A little while later in the service while I was having my own wrestling match with God, the pastor started to preach -on dreams and visions. Through the course of that sermon the pastor cited scripture to refute every excuse I gave God. The excuses about already having a lot of kids, about not having enough money, about caring for Alan's aging parents, about being too busy - all of them - God addressed them all. I was being commanded to be obedient to the call that God had placed on me, and on our family.
The next few years were filled with lots of paperwork, appointments, plans and waiting. But eventually the day came - when we saw our beautiful girl and eventually she was placed in our arms in a hot Civil Affairs office in Guangzhou, China. And I saw them. The eyes. The eyes of the little girl that God showed me. You see, God SAW Grace a year before she was even born. Before she was knitted together in her birth mother's womb. He had his eyes on her - and had a plan for her life.
HE knit her together - HE knit our family together - HE knit our "China Family" together - and for all of these things I am eternally grateful.
2 comments:
Love it...gives me chills. Obedience is beautiful, isn't it? I'm so thankful for all that He gave each of us with this wonderful China family we're a part of. His plan in HIS time was so much better than mine! Wish we could all be together to share this day. Happy Gotcha Day, Grace! Love you guys!
Thank you Donna for sharing this part of your story! WOW!!!
I'm so grateful that you listened to God at just the right time to allow us to be part of that China family! I think one of these years we need to celebrate it together at Disney...
Love to Grace and the rest of your family!
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