Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow!

This morning, when I woke up, I scarcely wanted to get out of bed.  As I fell asleep last night, my mind was preoccupied with many things... the kids, their behavior, how to work out a busy schedule, how to handle going from caring for one person, and occasionally others, to three people all the time.  And then there was the pain.  Because of my endometriosis, I generally experience about a week of excruciating pain each month, sometimes longer.  The only long term treatment option for this is pregnancy or hysterectomy... and the disease impairs your ability to conceive.  Irony.  Not funny irony, for someone who has wanted to be pregnant since she was ten.  Not funny at all after four surgeries, two units of donor blood to save my life, and a week in the hospital.  Especially not funny when after all that, I'm still experiencing this horrible pain each month.  Yes, I hate endometriosis very much.  One more bit of irony - it's not even recognized as a word by Google Chrome!  How on earth are we supposed to help the thousands of women who suffer from it when it isn't even a widely recognized or well understood disease?

But I digress.  This was weighing especially heavily on me last night because I will be away at a conference next Monday and Tuesday, so my very last chance to get the medication that makes that week bearable, was today.   This is a conference for Child Passenger Safety Technicians and advocates, one that I've twice attended before, and one that I greatly enjoy.  I did not want to spend it huddled in my hotel room in excruciating pain.  After receiving no response from the doctor's office yesterday, I didn't have high hopes for today.  But they came through.  As I lie in my bed in pain, letting Veggie Tales be our babysitter for the morning, the office called and my prescription was ready.  My outlook for the next few days is so much brighter!  I can enjoy my conference now!

Then, the greatest blessing of all came to my attention.  You see, as I lay in bed this morning and prayed for relief, for myself, for my conference, I prayed first that God would intervene on behalf of the orphan.  I also prayed first that He would take the greatest care of my precious DBKs.  I told Him that yes, I prayed for myself, for my disease, for my conference, but that I would endure that pain if it meant He could turn His attention to those in greater need, to the children.  I thought especially of little Sarah, who I posted about earlier this week.  When I posted about her, there were less than two weeks until her file went back to her country's government, likely condemning her to live out the rest of her days in that awful orphanage.  With every day that passed, my fear that Sarah would not find a family grew.

So, as I often do, I stopped in at Reece's Rainbow to check the My Family Found Me page - the page listing all the children who had families in various stages of the process to adopt them.  I expected to see the same faces I saw yesterday - sometimes they roll in in great number, and sometimes they slow to a trickle.  I didn't even dare to hope to see Sarah's little face on My Family Found Me.

But I did! 


Yes, that's right!  Precious Sarah, whom myself and others had begged for God to bring into a family where she can grow and be nurtured and loved and reach her full potential, has found a family!  Look at her there, on the My Family Found Me page, where she deserved to be all along.  SARAH IS COMING HOME!

God did not just answer my selfish prayer.  He did not come to my aid and leave a precious little one whose need was far greater without.  He answered both!  Our God is truly great and there is nothing He cannot do.  He has brought countless children out of terrible places and into loving families.  He has healed the sick. He has walked with us through our most difficult moments, through our times of praise, and through all those in between.  PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!  Words are completely inadequate for the JOY I feel in my heart right now, because He has truly SAVED Sarah.  He saved her soul 2000 years ago when He sent His son to die for our sins, but today He has committed to save her earthly body as well.

To Sarah's family - whomever you are - we don't know yet - thank you, from the bottom of my heart.  Thank you for hearing our cries, her cries, the cries of a God who loves her and doesn't want her abandoned in that place one moment longer.  THANK YOU.

Yes, some days are hard.  Yes, last night I was crying in pain, fear, sadness and desperation.  I hurt, I missed my dear best friend Angie, I worried for Sarah and for countless other children, I wondered if I was truly doing God's will with my precious DBKs.  I went to bed with a heavy heart.  I woke up with a heavy heart.  But God has turned all that around.  The sun is shining, the sky is blue (the tank is clean.... oh wait, that's a Nemo reference), I have a happy little boy babbling at me and smiling from his high chair, two happy little girls who will get to play at the park on this beautiful day, relief from my constant struggle with the pain caused by my disease... and Sarah has a family.  CONGRATULATIONS SARAH!  And congratulations to the family who will be so lucky to call her their daughter.

Praise Him, from Whom ALL blessings flow!