When Adam and I were first discussing adoption, I remember having a conversation about finances. We were both very concerned about how we would come up with the money to complete an adoption so I, of course, started a spreadsheet :-) I came up with all of these different ways we were going to obtain the almost $30,000 that we needed. Adam and I were on a walk with the kids one night when I went through my spreadsheet explaining where we would get the money from. It went something like this...
"We will put in the $1,700 we have, we will get $5,000 from this grant and $5,000 from this grant, $12,650 from a tax credit, $3,000-$5,000 from here, and the rest we will fund raise for...like yard sales, dinners, etc."
Both of thought, "Hey...that's do-able! That wont be so bad!"
It's funny now that I look back on that conversation and realize that God taught me a HUGE lesson through this. We knew he was calling us to adopt but when it came to the finances, I needed to figure that out ahead of time. I was still trusting God to give us all of the money and we were still stepping out in faith that He would provide all that we needed but in order to go forward I had to have some sort of an idea of where it was coming from.
Interestingly enough...almost none of that money came from where I planned. We did not get any grants, the tax credit became non-refundable, lets just say, the money did not come from where I thought it would. Awhile back, in the span of one week, I found out that basically we had around $7,500 left to come up with and three of the sources that I thought we would get the bulk of the money from came back and said that we were not getting any money from them. I got really frustrated...I wanted to know why and so I asked God. Over and over I asked Him in prayer, "Why are you not giving us the money through the paths I thought you would?" And then I came to the conclusion one day that I needed to figure out whether I still trusted God to provide the money. And I did. I knew that He was going to provide for this so I began to pray, "Lord, please provide the money that we need. I thought you were going to give it to us in all these different ways and none of them are working out. Lord, please perform a miracle." And He did...
Within one month, an anonymous donor gave us $1,000, our Sunday school class took up an offering and gave us $2,880 and the very next weekend a couple called and donated two plane tickets to Africa (that's $4,000!!!). NONE of this was in my plan. But God reminded me that this was His plan all along...
For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
His plan for providing the money was more than I could have ever imagined...
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20
I really think now that I am looking back over where all this money came from (yes, I have a spreadsheet), that God had a specific plan in where it came from as much as He did in where it did not come from. I don't know about you guys but God rarely works anything out the way I think He is going to and praise Him for that! He sees the big picture...the one I can't and I am so thankful that He loves me enough to teach me over and over again to trust in Him and NOTHING else.
So...in six months we went from $1,700 to $30,308 and we give all praise, glory and honor to God. Now we are praying for a very special phone call :-)
