Kisses from God: When God is in the waiting
You’re not going to have any deaf children, have faith.
These were the very words spoken over one of our China families just days ago by their dear sweet friend—little did they know at that time that just days later, a video would arrive that would leave their family in awe of God’s power and these beautiful words from their friend replaying over and over again in their minds.
Don’t you just love God moments? Those moments that are like little kisses from God, the little moments that He chooses to give us to show more of His power, and in doing so- increases our faith. This week God chose to give “God kisses” to one of our China Program families. Families in the adoption process often walk completely by faith and not by sight. They spend months wondering about so many details of their child as they anxiously wait for that first time they are able to hold them in their arms. For those adopting children with medical needs, this can be even more challenging and oftentimes, emotional, as a file can sometimes only capture so much information about a son or daughter and sometimes medical technology in certain regions of the world, can only extend so far. There are often more questions than answers, no matter how many updates a family receives along the way; yet, families walk the path of adoption in faith knowing who has called them to this- knowing He is faithful to calm their fears of the unknown and that there will be times He whispers in a still and quiet voice to their hearts.
This week one of our families was overjoyed to receive a video of their son, a moment that as this family expressed, “We said yes to him thinking/knowing the doctors here and in China say he is completely deaf in his left ear and very hard of hearing in his right. The timing of seeing this video is impeccable and as if God said to us, See what I can do with your YES?! Have faith that KNOWS I can make the blind see, the lame walk…..and the deaf hear.
The following is this family’s account of their sweet kisses from God and His faithfulness on that very special day this week:
The timing of receiving this video was such a gift from the Lord to us. It is so priceless and a treasure which has given our children such excitement about their new brother and us a complete revival to keep running with patience!!! I had the most beautiful devotional to go along with receiving this video and it was as if God spoke with great power about SO many things regarding our journey and most of all, this beautiful gift whom we get to call our son! A sister in Christ JUST said to me a few days ago as we were talking about our son, You're not going to have any deaf children…….have faith. And I just chuckled and thought, oh my, she's delusional…and instantly began defending my faith (as if should have to do that) I began saying things like, 'I do have faith because I don't need him to not be deaf to be so TOTALLY excited and ready to bring him home.' We said yes to him thinking/knowing the doctors there (and here) say he is completely deaf in the left ear and very hard of hearing in the right. I never equated having faith to him being able to hear on his own! I honestly, never thought to pray for him to be able to hear, because I just accepted his diagnosis and him just the way he was/is, but let me tell you something. I KNOW without a doubt, the fact he can clearly hear something from his left ear AND his right…is totally and completely God. The timing of seeing that is impeccable and as if God said, “See what I can do with your yes?! Have faith that KNOWS I can make the blind see, the lame walk…..and the deaf hear.”
He reminded me to pray big. My faith—as much as I wanted to argue with my friend and with God that it was already good enough—clearly needed a revival through the mounds of paperwork and grind to get this kiddo home!!! And wow…what a way to immensely increase it in a split second. What a gift. On so many levels.
God shared this with us not just for us, but I KNOW for others. As I have been praying for our son and asking God to reveal something to me about him so I may get to know him more in this wait….God gave me the word lion. And I can't help but watch this video (over and over) and seeing this most precious face and knowing behind that sweet smile is a little lion for God. The things God will and is already doing with this boy and his life is JUST beginning!!!”
Maybe you are like this family- working through your adoption and what can sometimes feel like a difficult process with stacks of paperwork, and months of waiting with many unknowns. If that is you, we pray that you will rest today in knowing that though we may not always know every detail about what the future holds for each adoptive family or each child being adopted, we can still rest in knowing that God is holding each and every one of our families and each precious child in His hands today. That is truth that you can rest confidently in, no matter what you are facing.
We are blessed at America World to have families who answer God’s call to adopt not only children with medical needs, but also boys just like this family’s story portrayed. However, boys in China often wait much longer for a family, as they are often overshadowed by a larger number of families requesting to adopt a girl and the number of boys with medical needs available for adoption, ironically, outnumbers the number of girls waiting with the same medical conditions. Both boys and girls alike, with more unique medical needs, often go unnoticed; yet, they are still in need of a family. We encourage families to speak with our China team about what it looks like to adopt from China or what it might look like to consider adopting a child with certain medical needs that are less commonly requested. There are children waiting today that are in need of a family, so we encourage you to take that first step. If you are considering adoption, please contact our team at 800-429-3369 or by email at china@awaa.org. Our staff would love to speak with you and counsel you on what it would look like to take your next steps on the path to adoption .