Empty Pockets, Willing Hearts

I’m not going to lie; adoption is expensive!  There are home study fees, application fees, collecting of official documents fees, agency fees, orphanage fees, travel fees, and on and on.  To bring home our two children, we are looking at about $30,000.  Do we have this money just lying around?  Obviously notJ  Should we have waited to start this process when we were “financially able”?  Under normal circumstances the answer would be yes, but this is not a normal circumstance.  We believe without a shadow of a doubt that when God calls us to something, he WILL provide.  Let me share with you some of the many ways our Lord has provided for us during these first steps of our adoption.  

Our first expense came when we had to send a $50 application fee to our home study agency.  Two days later, we received an unexpected check from my work for… $50!  This check brought assurance that we were indeed following God’s will and that he was going to take care of us every step of the way. 

The next week we went to Nashville to visit family and friends and while we were there we had to pick up birth certificates and our marriage license (which costs…of course).  After picking up our documents, we headed to dinner with our dear friends.  This was also our first time meeting their beautiful new baby!  During dinner Matt whispered to me, asking if I wanted him to share the news of the adoption with them.  Before we could share, our friend came into the room with a card for us.  She asked us to open it and inside was a very encouraging note and a check for $200!  (We had forgotten that we had already shared our plan to adopt with them.J)    And of course I cried as we saw once again how God was providing for our family. 

It gets better!  Mom had been sharing our story with a friend at work, who is also a believer.  I will share more of this relationship later because it is nothing short of a miracle, but for now I will keep it to God’s provision financially.  So, this special friend of moms, whom we have never met, sent us a check for $100!  In the memo of her check she wrote, “when God calls, he provides”.  My thoughts exactly! 

Right now we are in the positive with the adoption!  We have some much larger expenses coming in the next few weeks, but we aren’t worried.  We know that God has called us to adoption, and he will provide.  This same friend of moms sent her an email, which she forwarded to us.  Here is some of what it said…

     

“Anytime God gives us a command, He has already provided for its accomplishment.  But we have to do the hands-on, ‘certain of what we do not see’ (Hebrews 11:1-2). ~H. Blackaby and R. Edgemon

What are you holding back on doing that you know God wants you to do?  Are you waiting for a ‘more opportune time?’  Better circumstances? More provision?  I understand.  But I also understand, in essence, we are not acting in faith until we act.  Believing and doing are different things.  If you’re holding back, let this prompt you to burst out of the gate and do whatever it is God has put on your heart.  With your yes on the table, whatever else is needed will follow.  ~V. Lee”

 

We are holding on to this truth that God will provide.  I can’t wait to see how he will do it and whom he will use!  And rest assured that I will share it with you!