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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Grace posting here...
"Once our eyes have been opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and hold us responsible to act."
Proverbs 24: 12
Sometimes life is rough, but through pain, we can gain new good things. Almost a year ago, I joined a Discipleship Group at Christ Pres Church, with several of my friends in it, and we have had it just about every Wednesday. Basically, it's a place to go, learn about God, vent about what's going on in life, and just have a trustworthy group of girls to be able to go and talk to and know that they're always there for support. whether we need prayer for how we are doing in school, or we have a sick relative in the hospital, or we are under alot of pressure in a sport or whatever else it is, we can know that they're there. Anyway, tonight was our first meeting because we have the summer "off". We went around and said what moment this summer was life changing...everyone had a different answer, but the one that really caught my attention was one of my D-Group leaders answers. A couple of weeks before, she had lost someone that she was really close to and depended on ALOT. she was up crying all night long for several nights in a row, and literally felt like she was physically being torn apart. Through this she actually gained something she never would have expected. She experieced self-discovery and found a whole different part of herself that she never knew about. she was always afraid to explore and she depended so much on that person that she was afraid to go on her own. As she told us about this and how she is currently happier than she's ever been, I started thinking about what my parents have been telling me all week. "You really need to "step up" here at home and be a strong sense of security for your siblings, because they're really going to struggle while we're gone."
I know it's going to be rough having my parents leave for several weeks, but we will gain something that is DEFINITELY worth it and I know we'll be happier than ever, and I am BEYOND willing to step up so that we can get our baby HOME! and it may be rough when Josie Love gets home for the first little while, but if you look at the bigger picture, we saved an orphan from living a life without love, which is why God put us on Earth. He didn't put us here so we could have big houses, drive nice cars, have fancy clothes, and care about materialistic things. He put us here to love the orphaned and widowed, and love those around us. If just 8% of those who profess to be believers FOLLOWED what God wants us to do and adopted an orphan OR cared for a child in need, there would be no more orphans. That's 147 MILLION children without homes and love that would be given a family, and people to love them. "I'm too old"...Better an old mom than NO MOM right? :) and "It's too expensive" isn't an excuse because God will provide. I have seen him provide for the Oatsvalls, who started out without ANY money in their adoption fund and are now waiting to travel to go get their TWO children in Uganda. We also have several other friends that have had 2 or 3 "anonymous checks" for hundreds and thousands of dollars set in their mailbox. We serve a mighty God that can move mountains...Anything's possible.
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
James 1: 27
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:30-31
OH! an by the way...go check out my mom's new products and feed a child in Africa with each purchase at 147millionorphans.com....they're AWESOME!
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About Me
- suzanne
- I am a lover of Jesus. I have the most fabulous husband that anyone woman could ask for. The Lord has blessed us with 7 beautiful children. I started this blog so that friends and family could follow our trip to Uganda to visit Katie Davis. I have decided to keep blogging to help bring orphan awareness to the world around me.
16 comments:
grace... i love watching you follow the Lords plan. I love to see how he puts different situations in your life that help you see what his plans are. Continue to love while your parents are gone and as your siblings struggle. "step up"- i know you can do it even though sometimes it may be hard the LORD WILL BE YOUR STRENGTH. Continue loving the lord with all your heart and caring for the orphans as He commands us to do. i know He has great plans in your future as you continue to give your life to follow him and love the orphans! keep helping out to bring Josie home!
Love Ya,
Mallory
first of all, didn't know you were coughing old swine flu germs out on me the other night, apparently they didn't stick ptl:)
Thank you for this post, really wonderful to see your family walk with the Lord and to see you find the strength that the Lord will give you to step up. Praying for you as you lean into him.
Lovely post....Praying for you while your parents are away.
"God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them."
1 Jn 4.16
God Bless
Isabelle
In this post alone you have proven that you are "STEPPING UP"!
Praying for your continued strengthen while your parents are away!
Love & Blessings from Hong Kong,
The Miller Family
(friends of the McCullough's)
God bless you sweet sister! Thank you for stepping up!
Love you Grace! I was praying for you all this morning over my Starbucks (one of many prayers was for you and your siblings while your mom and dad were gone) :-)What an encouragement to me to come home and read this post. We serve an amazingly BIG God and I love that you are a sister and not just my niece (but I am really glad you are my niece too :-) I am so proud of all of you.
oh girl...that comment about "too old" hit me right between the eyes! have been wondering about our role in adoption, and thinking that my husband and i are too old--43 and 45. maybe i'm too selfish...
What a beautiful post! We will be following along and praying them home! Can't wait till Josie is in her mama's arms!!!
:)
Amie
love you girl ... call me if you need anything or just want to come over and hang ... was trying to stay up late to get a text from your mom ... think i am fading though and heading to bed ...
GRACE!!! I love u soo much! we are here for you...u need anything just call....and I KNOW that you are ABSOLUTELY ALL FOR STEPPING UP!! love u sweet cousin!
we need 2 get 2gether soon! :)
love, blessings, and prayers,
ur cuz,
Abbie
I could not be more proud of you lil sister! Its such a blessing to me to watch you as you grow. You know that I am here for you whenever you need me- to talk, hang, or whatever. He is totally in this wiht you more than any person could be. Can't wait til we are sitting on the couch with that little angel sitting between us. loooooooove you more and more
Grace, I am so beyond proud of you and am so challenged and encouraged by your faith!! Thanks for sharing your heart....call me if you need anything!!
Love you,
Lindsey
Grace, I am so proud of you and so glad that you are my granddaughter as well as a Sister in Christ. It is wonderful to know that because of Jesus' love, we will be together for eternity, as well as having the privilege of serving the Lord and loving each other here. You know that you can call me for anything, and I will see you tomorrow. I always look forward to spending time with you and all my grandchildren. We are so.. blessed. To God be the Glory!
God's Grace is sufficient for all our needs.
One of my favorite verses: Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
Love you,
Gran
Came over from Gwen's blog.
What a beautiful post!
I especially liked your comment about being to old.
When I was 49 (DH was 53) we brought home our
19 month old daughter from China and now almost
three years later we are waiting for TA for our 13 yr. old
daughter from China. My desire is to be in my Father's
will not mine. When we are walking in obedience He
opens the doors & provides.
This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His
commands are not burdensome. I John 5:3
We have been blessed beyond measure.
This is Annabelle Posting right now: I realy want to talk to ya'll on the laptop. But grace has been gone so long. I miss both of you so much, and I'm looking forward to seeing Josie.
I love all of you!
Love, Annabelle
Thank you for posting this....my husband and I have 3 boys and are longing for a little girl (or two) from Africa. I have been sitting and waiting for God to tell us the right time, because financially we would be hurting. We are not accustomed to debt and don't want to start now, but live paycheck to paycheck. So I am taking this as a sign that it's time. God WILL provide as you say. Thank you soo much.
Kendra
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