Persistence

You may have noticed that I haven't posted any adoption updates for awhile. When people ask how things are going, my response lately has been, "Our case is moving very slowly, but it is moving." I know I need to share more consistently and specifically so that you all can pray over the details of this adoption, but I have to admit that I have kind of emotionally checked out of the process for the last month or so. I will confess that even I have not been praying with the persistence and intensity that I was previously.

I remember when I was in labor with both of the girls, it was near the end, and I was pushing. With each contraction I would muster up all I had and push, push, push. With both of the girls, at some point, a contraction came and I just laid there. I remember a nurse asking me, "Aren't you going to push?" "No," I said, "I need a break. I'll push on the next one." The nurse laughed. It must have seemed awfully silly to her that I just decided that, at least for the next few minutes, I would ignore the fact that I was in labor. I could have pushed and been that much closer to having a baby in my arms, and instead I opted out. Sound familiar?

Having experienced both pregnancy and adoption, it's impossible not to draw comparisons. One thing is for sure, the labor is a lot longer with adoption! Even though we aren't feeling physical pain, the "contractions" are intense. So for the last month or so, I've opted out. The pain is still there, but I'm too tired to push. I'm sure that probably seems pretty silly, just like it did to the nurses in my delivery room, but praise God that He has been patient with me and then, in all gentleness and faithfulness, taken me to this passage:

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

Do I believe God's promise that He will bring justice for Israel? Do I have faith enough in God and in His promises to continue to cry out to God on Israel's behalf day and night? By the grace of God and His power, may it be so! I know that I do not, on my own, have strength enough to push, push, push. But I also know that "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (Isaiah 40:29).

So we will continue to pray, day and night, for Israel and for the adoption process to be completed quickly. We are currently waiting for approval from the Embassy, after which we will go back to PGN for their approval, wait for a new birth certificate and passport, and then return to the Embassy for approval to travel. We're asking you, once again, to pray with us according to God's leading.