Blessings In Hard Times

Psalm 37:38, “For the Lord loves justice and will not abandon His faithful ones.  They are kept safe forever, but the children of the wicked will be destroyed.” 

To say that the last 2 weeks have been unbearable would be an understatement.  Russ and I received some devastating news about our adoption --- this “news” we are still protecting our three biological children from hearing at this point. 

Being at the end of my rope emotionally and even spiritually, I forced myself to sit and write every blessing that has occurred during the last 13 months of our adoption process REGARDLESS of our heartbreaking situation. I knew God had not left us, I knew we were called to adopt and at this point I just needed to see that in black and white.

Within minutes, my page was full and I was on my second then on to my third sheet of paper.  Included were things like: Russ 100% committed to God’s call of adoption for our family, our children are broken for the poor and the fatherless, deep Godly friendships have been created, our church is gaining awareness of the orphan crisis and feeling called to action.  Lorie Newman, (check her blog here http://lorienewmanblog.typepad.com/: ) one of my orphan crazy friends put it best in her text to me last week, “God wastes nothing.”

After all my blessings were written, I decided to go back over them and write down a scripture that came to mind as I read them.  One of the first verses that came to mind was Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  That is true – if our passion lines up with His will God will see it to fulfillment.  But I needed to see more in Psalms 37…..

1) I was very angry with people and processes.  Satan wants to destroy families.  Therefore, he is against adoption.  People and processes will be used to stir up anger in order to keep the righteous from walking in obedience and victory.

Verse 1: do not be agitated by evil doers

Verse 8: refrain from anger & give up your rage

2) God will deal with the wicked and the battle is won.

Verse 2: they wither like grass

Verse 9: they will be destroyed

Verse 13: the Lord laughs at them because the day is coming

Verse 20: the wicked will perish

Verse 40: transgressors will be eliminated

3) I still need to do my part.

Verse 3: trust the Lord and do what is good

Verse 5: commit my ways to the Lord

Verse 7: be silent before the Lord and wait on Him to act

Verse 39: salvation is from the Lord

4) God will not abandon us OR our child during this time.

Verse 18: the Lord watches over the blameless

Verse 23: our steps are established

Verse 26: we are a blessing to Him

Verse 28: He will not abandon His faithful ones

Even though things do not look at all like we had hoped – we must count our blessings.

Live It Out

Live It Out

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

Isaiah 58:6-7

The Blind Side is an amazing movie of how a family in Memphis, TN lived out this very scripture. It’s a story of how God asked their family to do something very specific for Him. Of course Hollywood doesn’t get into all the “God stories”, but you understand that their beliefs play an important role as to why a very wealthy white family with two kids chose to take in a homeless African American teenage boy.

I remember when I saw this movie in the theater I was moved.  The movie was touching, but what moved me most was what happened as I exited the theater. A couple behind me started talking about the film. The lady said this, “I like the story line. But it’s hard for me to believe that somebody would do that for somebody else. Taking in a stranger? Really?”

Have believers become so much like the world, that when scripture is lived out, it is so far from the norm - that others find it hard to believe?

Christians would agree that ALL believers are required to “love” our neighbor (found in Leviticus & several time in the New Testament). Now surely you know that “neighbor” doesn’t mean the person literally living right next door to you. Jesus is talking about mankind in general. So, how do we do that? You see, the AWESOME thing about God’s Word is that yes – He is totally specific as to how we are to live. BUT – He wants to be even more specific and tell you step by step, “Ginger, this is how I want YOU, and You alone, to love your neighbor….” If we really desire to be all that God created and planned for us to be – we must do our part in looking into His Word, finding these specific callings He has for believers and then say, “OK, Lord, How do you want me to live this out?”

Above in Isaiah, we see specific ways to show our devotion to Christ and our love for others. He lists 9 ways that we can show a lost world that we are different from the world:

1) loose the chains of injustice
2) untie the cords of the yoke
3) set the oppressed free
4) break every yoke
5) free the enslaved
6) feed the hungry
7) shelter the homeless
8) clothe the naked
9) acknowledge kinships (taking care of family)


Freeing the enslaved, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked……etc, as a believer – this should be a way of life for us!  It should not be odd to live this way on a daily basis! But, to the world ----- it is. However, doing these things WITHOUT THE LOVE OF CHRIST is just a humanitarian effort.  Anyone can feed the hungry but only HE can provide living water.

Have you ever prayed and asked God how He wanted you to live out any of these?  My friend Jen Gash has. She is the founder of Sweet Sleep--an organization that builds beds for orphans around the world.  www.sweetsleep.org  God wants her to live a life devoted to the care for orphans. He has asked our family to open our home to the fatherless. Another friend of mine each month keeps twenty one dollar bills in her purse to give to various homeless people she sees on her way to work.  She now knows them by name and has found this as a powerful way to minister.

How are you living out God's love?

What Are You Waiting On?

Kids excitedly wait for their birthday.  Tweens anticipate High School and High Schoolers can't wait until graduation!  College age kids look forward to careers and marriage.  Married couples can't wait to have children.  Parents can't wait for peace and quiet!  It never ends.... we wait.  We get.  Then, we wait on something else.

If you are an adoptive family - you know the wait.  And, I'm sure that you would agree that it's a feeling not many can relate to.  It seriously feels like part of your heart is missing.  That's the only words I know to use.  Even when we struggled with fertility issues early in our marriage - I cried often and my heart hurt, but not like this.

The adoption process takes waiting to an entirely new level.  My sister-in-law, Jeannie, is pictured here with her son Sheldon.  She has left him in Haiti and is now waiting..... This is what it feels like (most days) while knowing your child is in another country waiting for a family.  Lots of tears,  Lots of questions.  And few answers as to when the waiting will end.

You are probably waiting on something too.  And, whatever it is, I'm sure your heart hurts also. A good friend encouraged me this week with this verse found in Isaiah 40:31

  ³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint.

ONE - by Russ

ONE. That was the word that kept coming up over and over. In every Bible Study we did. In every sermon we heard. Everywhere we turned, the word ONE was being ingrained into our hearts. As we heard and saw the plight of orphans around the world—hunger, malnutrition, disease, neglect, and insufficient numbers to defend them--I knew then that we would have to act. There was no choice. But I was afraid—afraid of what it meant for our family and if we were ready for it. Was this God's calling for us or was I just reacting from emotion?

Ginger had been on board for a long time—she was actively involved in several orphan care and advocacy ministries. I had always supported her as she went on mission trips and spoke at churches about defending the fatherless. But I supported her from a distance, doing the typical guy thing, coming up with all the excuses—"We already have 3 children, we simply can't afford more". "We have a great family dynamic—what if they come in and disrupt that?"

Still stubborn, God brought in the heavy artillery. One of our children began to text me from her mom's phone, "Dad, can't we just save ONE?" Over, and over, and over. We went to an adoption conference and one of the keynote speakers said something to the effect of "Don't disregard that God may be speaking through your children to move you to adopt." Boom. The coup de grace.

After seeing every sign from God except the flashing neon one, I finally laid down all the worldly excuses that I had used to run away from our calling. God continued to make clear adopting was His will for our family and we are happy to say that we began the adoption process in March 2011. To my own surprise I felt God was calling us to adopt not just ONE but TWO children from Uganda. Ginger was feeling the same way. So - we stepped out in faith and became approved to adopt two children under the age of 5 from Uganda.

We've had many ups and downs on this journey (and Ginger will likely fill you in on all the details on future posts) but God's call for us has remained the same. "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for ONE of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.''' Matthew 25:40

The Hearts of Children

Yep.  That’s me.  Age 15.  100 lbs at best with 20 lbs being Aqua Net hairspray.  It’s important that your bangs look just right while ministering to others ;)

Red, yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight…(you know the rest) …Jesus loves the little children of the world.  It’s funny to think about how as a little girl --- I was always drawn to baby dolls with dark skin.  Unfortunately, in East Tennessee in the 70’s that was considered VERY odd.  However, one Christmas I got my baby doll!!!  I’m so thankful that my parents made that decision. I can trace God’s hand in my life for adoption all the way back to my childhood. Thank you God for moving in the lives of children!

It was God’s moving, once again, in the life of children that confirmed our decision for adoption.  It seems that since our 3 children could speak they have ALL THREE prayed, “And dear God, please let us adopt.”  At age 8 our middle child would grab someone’s phone and then text my husband saying, “Dad, this is Cassidy.  Can’t we save just one?”

1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

This is a blog about our adoption journey.  And – a long one it’s already been.  I like to think that it officially started around age 8 when I asked for that baby doll.  It was confirmed at ages 14 & 15 on mission trips where I became so attached to the children that I cried the entire 12 hour drive back home.  God has made clear His heart for children and orphans in His Word.  This blog is dedicated to showing you how He made it clear to our family that we had Room 4 ONE Moore.

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