We will rest in you Lord. We will rejoice. When the outermost situations grind us like rough sand paper to our skin. We look, and we find You, doing just the opposite from the inside out. Refining us. And we choose joy, we choose to rest in you. Oh, our souls stir for a family, yearn and burn for a family, sometimes to the point of tears. But, although we cry tears like Hannah did... we KNOW a Samuel is coming for us too. We will not let this longing be a source of bitterness, but we view it as a beginning of a miracle. You stir a parent's heart with deep longing and love for their children long before they ever hold them, and while that longing is so passionate it sometimes seems painful in the wait, it is ultimately a beautiful thing. You are teaching us to cherish each other and cling to each other during this time and how great a love we have in our marriage because of this trial. Nothing else has ever caused us to look so deeply into each other's eyes and share our emotions. So we consider it a pure JOY to go through this Lord. We know you are the Almighty Developer of perseverance and character. We know our situation has been laid before you. We need not manipulate you to get our way. We want YOUR way Lord.
It touches our hearts to know You longed like this too as You waited for us to come into the world, as You waited for US to love You. Only, Your longing was even deeper, because it comes from a perfect love. How humbled we are.
We choose Joy.
8 comments:
Hope - you and Rob are so inspirational and I admire your faith and perserverence so much. Thank you for being so open and sharing. Please know that you and your family are in our prayers and that your journey is blessing others too.
I can so relate to every word of this... especially your not letting "this longing be a source of bitterness." It is SO easy to fall in to that hole! I admire your choice to rejoice despite the pain, finding joy and rest in Him. And you are right- this pain is a gift in that it does bring strength to a marriage as we can really pour our love in to our spouses while we wait. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Lara and Cara. It's not easy... but moping around makes it even harder anyway! God bless your adoptions! I hope they progress quickly!
Hope, I always find so much comfort in the story of Hannah. You are so right. Your Samuel is coming. I too have cried those tears and experienced a deeper love with my husband through the pain. It brought us closer and made His gifts that much more enjoyable because we realized they were from the Lord. Oh how I pray for you during this time. That the Lord would continue to comfort and you would continue to rest in his embrace. Praying that the Almighty would give you the desires of your heart. Actually I'm begging that he would give you the desires of your heart. I hurt with you and yet I share your joy because you never give up praising in the midst of the storm. You are trusting Him because you know he is good. It is a beautiful thing. Keep on shining sister. Love ya!
Thanks Angela! Thank you for pleading for us! Thank you for understanding us! We love you too!
Angela said it beautifully. We continuet to stand & believe with you!
ditto and amen. hope, you are shining just like angela said and i want to be like you.
Hope and Rob, i love your optimism. I love how you see that this hard time is doing amazing things in your marriage!! When i face hard times like this someday, i will turn back to your blog to see the Christian-way to handle a situation. I love this point of view, i love this post, and i love that picture. This picture gave me the first glims of what you 2 looked like. And i had know idea, when i first saw this picture, that you guys would inspire so much and show me a way of living. Thank you. I love you, guys!
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