7th Anniversary Reflections

Mark and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Monday, July 26th.  We spent the weekend in Orange Beach and enjoyed the almost vacant beaches, almost oil-free waters, and glistening sand.  The ocean is one of God's most amazing creations.  There is another world living below the horizon of blue/green waters that we know so little about.  The power of the current as it pulls you deeper into the gulf is startling.  Yet, its sound is one of the most relaxing, calming reverberations known to man.  The sound reminds me of Don Piper's description of angel's wings in his account of 90 Minutes in Heaven, “a beautiful, holy melody with a cadence that seemed never to stop.”  Hebrews 1:7 says, "In speaking of the angels he says, 'He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.'" I imagine the sound to be like that of waves crashing on the beach in a constant rhythm and with the intensity of Niagara Falls.  Angels aren't the wimpy cupids we've made them out to be.  They're warriors, ambassadors, and messengers!  


In the midst of complete delight and beauty, I could not help but think of our little Zane, and the millions of children who have never seen the ocean, experienced the power of the water, and felt the salty splash of the waves.  My heart hurts for children who do not have the opportunity to experience such magnificence.  Even more disconcerting is the fact that experiences such as these are rarely even a thought to a child who has no time for such luxury and leisure.  Monumental issues, such as poverty, disease, hunger, and homelessness are barriers to such dreams and thieves of one's innocence.  Many children between the ages of 6 and 10 are parents, providers, and caretakers to baby brothers and sisters.  Their jobs?  Begging, stealing, sex-slavery, forced labor... Life is about survival, and this kind of survival is dismal at best.  Who will see them?  Who will rescue them?  Who will restore their innocence?


Isaiah 57:18 - "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him,"


Jeremiah 30:17 - "But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the Lord, 'because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares."


Psalm 71: 20 - "Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, You will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up."


God is El Roi, "the God who sees".  He will not forget the oppressed.  Through adoption, God is restoring dignity, health, and opportunity to children who otherwise would end up trafficked, homeless, or dead.  I'm so thankful to hear from so many families who feel God's call to adopt children.  His heart is becoming our heart for the lonely and oppressed.  


I pray for Zane's mother, though I have never laid eyes on her.  I wonder what kind of life she has had.  I wonder if she was once a middle class woman in the beautiful country of Ethiopia, living comfortably with her young, hard-working husband like Haregewoin (learn more at http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/ and click on the video to hear a summary from the author).  Was her husband diagnosed with "the unmentionable disease" and fired from his job?  Was he out-casted by society and left to die a painful death in destitution on a cold dirt floor?  What happened to her?  Did she also catch the disease?  Was she raped by deranged and defiled men who took advantage of a vulnerable woman?  How does she eat when her family has been ostracized because of disease?  I wonder what she is thinking now...knowing she will never be able to provide for Zane, and loving him enough to let him go.  Does she pray for him?  Does she beg God for a Christian family to raise him with love and opportunity?  Does she know that God is answering her prayers?

In an ideal world, Zane's birth-mother would receive the health care she needs, eat healthily every day, and live a long, productive life.  She would love her son, send him off to school with a kiss everyday, and tuck him in to bed each night.  While I know I will love Zane with my whole heart, he will one day long for his birth-mother, and wonder about her just as I am today.  Together we will grieve the insurmountable loss he will experience and the injustices of a fallen world.  We will cry, call out to God, hold each other close, and rest in the hope of one day seeing her again in a place where there will be no more death, no more crying, no more pain.  And as He always does, God will fill us with His unexplainable peace, until that day when Zane, his birth-mother, and I will stand on Heaven's shores hand-in-hand, engulfed in the beautiful thunder of angels wings. (Ephesians 2:14 - "For He Himself is our peace..."