themoodyblogger

First things first. We have our LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the document we have been waiting for. Once we sign this document and get it back to China, we will be issued our travel approval. The estimated time until we travel is 5-8 weeks. “A” will turn 2 on September 23, 5 weeks from tomorrow.

It is amazing to look back and see God at work through this process. He has taken care of so many details . Details that you would not think the Almighty would deem important. He does so because He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. There is nothing too small or too big for Him to handle.

Right now, my family is in a process of transition. We have been in this process, but now it is really ramping up. D just started First Grade. I just started a full-time position with a local nursing home. My hubby broke his toe last night and has to have a pin put in it tomorrow. No Tae Kwon Do for a month (his black belt test was supposed to be Saturday). Thought I would throw that in there, because he is really bummed. Most of all, in less than two months, we will go from a 3 person family to a 5 person family. Overnight.

Over the last few months, we have slowly let go of some of our responsibilities. However, it seems we are busier than ever! That has to change. Family time. That is what we are after. Time to be together before the boys get here. Time to process. Time to prepare. Time to pack!!!! Our hearts are yearning for these boys. We have to continue to be intentional about our time with our Lord. Time to pray. Time to study. Time to lean in close. Time to fight. Who you ask? Satan.

Satan hates this. He will attack. Please pray for us.

Love,

Lori

1 Corinthians 2:9  NLT “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

At the recommendation of a friend, I am reading a book by Ann Voskamp. It is called One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. On the surface, it sounds like another feel good book. It is not. The first chapter had me in tears and raw.

Ann says, we “enter the world like every person born enters the world: with clenched fists”. I read that line two weeks ago. I cannot seem to get it out of my head. God has so many blessings for me. I am so ungrateful. I clinch my fists and stomp my feet. “Not your way God. I want it my way!”

Last week, I was reading Steven Furtick’s blog. His topic was also about being thankful. He says before we ever say please, we should say thank you. Backwards from the way we teach our children.

When I thank God for a messy house, I accept my house (and the people/animals living in it) as gifts He has given me. When I thank God for my infertility, I accept my sons D, E, and Z as my gifts. When I thank God for this wait we are going through, I accept this time as a gift to be cherished. He has so many gifts for me, I just have to open my hands and take them. Not living life with clenched fists, but with open hands.

Jesus broke bread and gave thanks the night before He was to die. The biggest, most awesome gift we have ever been given. The miracle of all miracles. Jesus gave thanks beforehand. We must give thanks, before miracles can happen in us and through us.

On my list of gifts:

1. The feel of a jellyfish.
2. Cool sand.
3. The smell of ripe peaches.
4. The taste of a orange mango smoothie (that I had wanted to be strawberry).
5. Tearful prayers.
6. A loving God.
7. Miracles.

What are you thankful for?

Psalm 100:4 (ESV) Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV) Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

James 1:17 (ESV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Matthew 7:11 (ESV) If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will you Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

The other day, I fussed at my husband. Afterwards, I prayed that God would provide an opportunity for me to redeem that interaction. It got me to thinking about other times when I have hurt someone or said something stupid, and how later God opened the door to make it right.

Have you ever sat and thought about what it means to be redeemed? I have been thinking about it a lot lately, and I never realized that “redeem” is such a deep word. Here are some definitions for redeem:

1 a : to buy back : repurchase b : to get or win back

2: to free from what distresses or harms: as a : to free from captivity by payment of ransom b : to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental c : to release from blame or debt : clear d : to free from the consequences of sin

3: to change for the better : reform

4: repair, restore

5 a : to free from a lien by payment of an amount secured thereby b (1) : to remove the obligation of by payment (2) : to exchange for something of value c : to make good : fulfill

6 a : to atone for : expiate b (1) : to offset the bad effect of (2) : to make worthwhile : retrieve

Jesus redeemed us by His death on the cross. He bought us back, released us from blame and consequences of sin, changes us, repair and restores us, and removed our obligation to pay for what we have done and do every day.

Do you believe this? I do, but it is so hard sometimes to wrap my mind around it. How every situation, big or small in our eyes, can be redeemed. He is just that strong. He is just that powerful. He is just that loving, merciful, kind, and patient.

Genesis 50:20 ESV  As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

And in honor of my sweet friends who were married last night, allowing God to redeem their situations and relationships:

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 ESV  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

God is love!