Keep Praying!!!

I want to thank everyone who took the time to read the post last night and pray for us.  I read about the closure on the state departments website last night, wrote the information on the blog and then cried for a couple of hours.   I cried while Adam bathed our kids, I cried while we put them to bed and then I cried some more in the kitchen while my sweet husband gave me lots of hugs. 

We were devastated. 

I told Adam that I was upset and mad that God brought us to this place and then shut the door.  I was mostly mad because I KNOW that God is in control and that he allowed this to happen.  Just this past Monday I was reminded at Bible study that everything in my life is either God arranged or God allowed.

EVERYTHING

Whether He arranged this or allowed this, He will use this. I believe that.

I was really mad last night and I told God.  He can handle that. 

At 10:30pm last night we got a phone call from our agency and they talked to us about what the closure means and what they hope will happen.  She also told us some really great news about little E and we got some more pictures....bittersweet.  I have no idea what is going to happen.  I don't know if we will ever get to bring her home or if the country will re-open and things will go along as planned but right in the middle of my pity party, God reminded me of something. 

Mark 4:40

This past Wednesday, I was listening to a sermon online and the guy was talking about the story where Jesus calms the storm...

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. ³⁷ A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. ³⁸ Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
³⁹ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

⁴⁰ He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

When I was listening to this, the word STILL really stuck out to me and last night I felt the Lord say to me, "Why are you so afraid?  Do you STILL have no faith? 

I looked over at Adam on the couch and I told him about Mark 4:40 and that I had listened to a sermon on that verse just this week and Adam started laughing....he said, "that is really funny because I just did a Sunday school lesson on that exact verse." 

God was not surprised by the closure. 

He knew so far in advance about it that he prepared Adam and I both for what was coming.

We serve a God who is completely sovereign and who loves us more than we can imagine.  God never promised that we would have an easy, happy life with no problems.  He did promise that WHEN we face problems, He would be with us. 

I STILL believe God is with us and that He will use this for our good and His glory.  I STILL believe that God is with little E and all of the other orphans in the world.  I STILL believe that He hears our prayers so keep praying! Pray for the families who are are there and cannot bring their children home. I know he is working on our behalf. 


Love,
Lynsey 

Here we go again...

Well...we got some really great news this week and then I saw this on the state departments website tonight...

On September 27, the Congolese Ministry of Interior and Security, General Direction of Migration (Direction Generale d'Immigration, DGM) informed the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa that effective September 25, 2013, the DGM suspended issuance of exit permits to adopted Congolese children seeking to depart the country with their adoptive parents. The DGM reports the suspension will last up to 12 months. This suspension is due to concerns over reports that children adopted from the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be either abused by adoptive families or adopted by a second set of parents once in their receiving countries.

This is devastating...

Please start praying that God would perform a miracle.

Lynsey