Monday, July 28, 2008

Our God IS so Big!

We had a wonderful weekend, our friends N and J came to town with their son, S. We were able to spend time talking, playing and worshipping together. But wait let me start back at the beginning so you can fully grasp what an amazing God we have.

Twelve years ago we were raising four small children. Three biological children and our second foster child, S. S came to us as a 6week old baby, he stayed with us for two and a half years and we loved every second of caring for him as our own.

But as I explained here, we began doing foster care as a ministry, we felt God had called us to foster care for the purpose of caring for children in between leaving their biological parents until they were able to connect with their "forever families."

So we had fervently been praying for S, his parents parental rights had been terminated and the county was looking for adoptive resources for him. We knew God had a plan for him and we were busy doing the only thing we could for him....praying, praying for a wonderful Christian family for him.

Well during this time my husband attended a Promise Keepers event in Milwaukee, 10,000 men praising and learning more about our God. My husband was up in the nose bleed section with a group of men from our church, there was another large group of men sitting in front of them. During one intermission the group in front of them got up and moved to a different area where they were able to see better. After a few minutes a man and his son came and sat down directly in front of my husband. During another intermission they began to make casual conversation when suddenly this man started telling my husband how he and his family had been praying to adopt a child. Well my husband knew this was no coincidence but also knew enough about the system to know that as perfect as this seemed, its just not how it works. They exchanged numbers are were both very eager to get home and tell N and I.
I will admit I told my husband he was crazy to even think about this, our system has way too many hoops to jump thru and they had already told us they had a number of families that had expressed interest in S.

N began calling and she was sure this was all God, I explained to her also about the system but nothing was stopping her. They asked if they could come down and visit with us, they lived about three hours from us. They were very excited about meeting S. We agreed they could come down and we would explain foster care to them and help them maybe look into foster care in their own home town.

Well they came down and of course feel in love with S. We agreed to give them the workers name and number but we made every attempt at warning them that this truly is not how the system works. I am ashamed to admit that at the time I thought "the system" was bigger than my God. But as we developed a friendship with N and J we all began praying and believing that this would in fact be Gods will.

Well after months and months of praying and crying out to our God, after months and months of being told by workers, who were more than willing to tell us that it might seem like God wanted this, but this is NOT how the system works. One day S' worker (who had told us she did not believe in God) came out for a visit and as she sat at my kitchen table she told me...I don't know this God of yours but you know what, if you four are so sure of this God and so sure that He orchestrated this meeting, who am I to tell you no. We have decided to proceed with moving S to N and J's house and will proceed with making them his "forever family!"

I remember weeping and feeling so truly honored that my God would reach down into not only S's life but into our lives and touch us. He is bigger than any system, He is bigger than any obstacle or absolutely anything that seems impossible! He cares for us and does have a plan for each of us. I thank Him so very often for bringing S into our lives, I thank Him for using us and showing Himself to us in such an real way.

And I thank Him for this wonderful Christian family who loves our S with all their hearts, I thank Him for the awesome godly young man S has become. I thank him for and N and J and for allowing us to always remain in S's life, and for the friendship we have developed over these last 10 years. How amazing it was to sit in church on Sunday and praise our God together!

I know this is long already but I just have to tell you one last thing. Last year S was asking me about his birth mom, and he was telling me what he wanted to tell and ask her when he saw her again. He said Aunt Stacey do you know the first thing I want to ask her when I see her.....no S what would you ask her. I want to ask her if she knows JESUS! As I began to cry I told him how very proud of him I was. Yes, S make sure she knows your Jesus.

4 comments:

Jill said...

Oh Stacey - what an AMAZING story! I loved reading this.

Jean said...

That's an AWESOME story! It made me think of the time I prayed for three specific things I wanted in the adoptive parents for a sibling group we had foster parented for a year-and-a-half. I prayed that they would be Christians, that they would not have any other children in their home, but that they would have a heart for children. God answered ALL THREE! They were indeed Christians, they were both teachers, had not been able to conceive, but had already foster parented. Those three kids are now successful young adults and they are a very close knit family. We've been to two of their weddings. God is so good!!

Justabeachkat said...

Oh.My.Word! This post gave me sweet chills. Our God IS so BIG!

Hugs!
Kat

Unknown said...

Stacey; Thank you for such a great testimony to God's goodness, power and care.