Tuesday, December 14, 2010
I was recently reading a post on an adoptive family's blog (You Will Fill Me With Joye) who brought their daughter home from Korea earlier this year. She wrote such an eloquent post about adoption truths and misconceptions (you definitely should read the whole thing here!), but one part of her post literally sent chills down my back and tears down my cheeks. It was her recalling of how they came up with the money to adopt their baby girl. Here is an excerpt from it....
Now, I know nothing about people's circumstances. All I know is our circumstances went against the "only the rich can adopt" theory. We are self employed and live a VERY simple life. We didn't have the money laying around to start Joye's adoption. In fact, we put the first fees on our credit card. Which was about $4,000. Was that smart? Not entirely. Our CC company hiked the fees and made it really hard to pay back. However, I can say with certainty that we no longer have that Credit Card and that it was paid off. Not sure how though, I don't remember. (I am not advocating going into debt to pay for an adoption - just stating our journey and how it all worked out.) We then opened up a savings account and got to work praying daily for God's Mighty provision. We did a few fundraisers. Raised about $4,000 and were touched so deeply by our community who helped out A LOT. Where did the rest come from? I have no idea. Our savings account just kept growing and growing and growing. When we received the phone call that changed our lives forever, all the money was in there to accept Joye's referral. Actually, we had a whopping $.69 left over.
Then we were wondering if we could afford to go to Korea. All we had was $.69! Again, by the time we were ready to travel, we had saved enough to go and pick up our baby girl. To recall, I really don't know where the money came from. I know we saved here and there, used a tax return or two, but does it make ANY sense that we (we didn't; HE did) had accumulated $20,000+ in a little over a year? Not one iota.
But God.
He knew.
He knew, right down to the nickels and dimes.
I know that if you step out in faith and trust Him, he will provide. I know it!
The reason this touched me so much is that Jeff and I have been having this exact experience. We are both teachers. We live a simple life. We drive old used cars, we only have basic TV stations to watch, we don't go out to eat often, we buy clothes on clearance, we cut coupons... the point is, we spend our money very carefully and have little left over at the end of the month. Starting this adoption was a huge leap of faith. Yet, we have trusted God and he has seen us through each time! The amazing part is that every time I look at our bank account, its growing... and simply put, I have no idea how! I have no idea how we have paid the $5000+ fees we have had so far, yet each time a bill has come due, the money was there. I have no idea how we have had every need met. I have no idea that how for years when we have tried to save money, we would end up with a few hundred extra, and now there are thousands extra... waiting to pay the ransom for our daughter. There is only one simple explanation... He will provide. He always does. Do we have a long ways to go? Yes, but I trust somehow it will be there when the time comes. God is so good. And isn't that what faith is anyways? Believing in the unexplainable!
Now, I know nothing about people's circumstances. All I know is our circumstances went against the "only the rich can adopt" theory. We are self employed and live a VERY simple life. We didn't have the money laying around to start Joye's adoption. In fact, we put the first fees on our credit card. Which was about $4,000. Was that smart? Not entirely. Our CC company hiked the fees and made it really hard to pay back. However, I can say with certainty that we no longer have that Credit Card and that it was paid off. Not sure how though, I don't remember. (I am not advocating going into debt to pay for an adoption - just stating our journey and how it all worked out.) We then opened up a savings account and got to work praying daily for God's Mighty provision. We did a few fundraisers. Raised about $4,000 and were touched so deeply by our community who helped out A LOT. Where did the rest come from? I have no idea. Our savings account just kept growing and growing and growing. When we received the phone call that changed our lives forever, all the money was in there to accept Joye's referral. Actually, we had a whopping $.69 left over.
Then we were wondering if we could afford to go to Korea. All we had was $.69! Again, by the time we were ready to travel, we had saved enough to go and pick up our baby girl. To recall, I really don't know where the money came from. I know we saved here and there, used a tax return or two, but does it make ANY sense that we (we didn't; HE did) had accumulated $20,000+ in a little over a year? Not one iota.
But God.
He knew.
He knew, right down to the nickels and dimes.
I know that if you step out in faith and trust Him, he will provide. I know it!
The reason this touched me so much is that Jeff and I have been having this exact experience. We are both teachers. We live a simple life. We drive old used cars, we only have basic TV stations to watch, we don't go out to eat often, we buy clothes on clearance, we cut coupons... the point is, we spend our money very carefully and have little left over at the end of the month. Starting this adoption was a huge leap of faith. Yet, we have trusted God and he has seen us through each time! The amazing part is that every time I look at our bank account, its growing... and simply put, I have no idea how! I have no idea how we have paid the $5000+ fees we have had so far, yet each time a bill has come due, the money was there. I have no idea how we have had every need met. I have no idea that how for years when we have tried to save money, we would end up with a few hundred extra, and now there are thousands extra... waiting to pay the ransom for our daughter. There is only one simple explanation... He will provide. He always does. Do we have a long ways to go? Yes, but I trust somehow it will be there when the time comes. God is so good. And isn't that what faith is anyways? Believing in the unexplainable!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Beautiful. God is so good!
Really sweet card, and I love what you wrote inside! :) Merry Christmas!
Post a Comment