Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
This last week I emailed to get our fingerprints extended. They expire in August and we are almost into the US embassy with our paperwork. We can see the end of this long distance race. When they responded to my email I was told that we would have to update our home study to get fingerprinted since Wilson has turned 18 years old this summer. For those of you adopting, you understand how much work has to be done to get a home study done. Medical exams, background checks, financial statements, documentation of pet's rabies vaccination, and just general paperwork to be filled out. My first emotion was frustration. I called and asked if we could just extend the fingerprints without the home study and the answer was no way.
As we read this passage last Sunday I felt that this fit our circumstances perfectly. Satan will continue to buffet us in this process. We have prayed almost every day for our paperwork to move quickly with our adoption, but we are lagging behind everyone. Almost everyone who started this adoption process in Sept of 2012 at our orphanage has been able to bring their children home. We truly feel that this wait and this process is a thorn in our flesh and our test. The question though is how are we going to handle ourselves and our emotions? Will we get mad at every US adoption employee who is following the rules, will we get frustrated at God for not answering our prayer like we want him to, or will we be like Paul and take pleasure in our infirmities and distresses because only through our weakness can we show God's strength.
I will once again turn all of this over to God and give him the glory for allowing us to adopt these boys. We will praise him for allowing us to teach them and show them about our God's grace and peace. We will give God all of the glory and praise for this adoption and make this about HIM and not about us. We will take pleasure in this process because we know that HE is in control and will bless us and make us strong. We will make him strong through our weakness. We pray for humility to help us not be proud or "exalted above measure" about this adoption, but humble and weak knowing God, our strength, is in control .
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