Charles Spurgeon has more to share

I hope this encourages you this morning as much as it did me.

Morning devotion for July 19:

The Lord our God has shown us His glory. Deuteronomy 5:24

God's great design in all His works is the manifestation of His own glory. Any aim less than this would be uworthy of Himself. But how shall the glory of God be manifested to such fallen creatures as we are? Man's eye is not single in its focus; he always has a side glance toward his own honor, has too high an estimate of his own powers, and so is not qualified to behold the glory of the Lord. It is clear, then, that self must stand out of the way, that there may be room for God to be exalted. And this is the reason why He often brings His people into straits and difficulties, that, being made conscious of thier own folly and weakness, they may be fitted to behold the majesty of God when He comes to work their deliverance. he whose life is one even and smooth path will see but little of the glory of the Lord, for he has few occasions of self-emptying and hence but little fitness for being filled with the revelation of God. They who navigate little streams and shallow creeks know but little of the God of tempests; but they who are "doing business on the great waters" see "His wondrous works in the deep." Among the huge waves of bereavement, poverty, temptation, and reproach, we learn the power of Jehovah, because we feel the littleness of man. Thank God, then, if you have been led by a rough road: It is this that has given you your experience of God's greatness and loving kindness. Your troubles have enriched you with a wealth of knowledge to be gained by no other means: Your trials have been the crevice of the rock in which Jehovah has set you, as He did His servant Moses, that you might behold His glory as it passed by. Praise God that you have not been left to the darkness and ignorance that continued prosperity might have involved, but that in the great fight of affliction you have been qualified for the outshinings of His glory in His wonderful dealings with you.

Dear friend, where ever you are, whatever struggles you are mired in, cling to the Father, who loves you and desires great things for you.

The Joke's on me

So. Daria's name really is Daria. I thought it was really Dasha, and it is. Dasha is the nickname for Daria. That was never made clear to me until yesterday when we said what her official name was to be. Anyway, here is a brief clip of Dasha being a good little mommy to her new baby doll.

Joy comes in the morning... or the afternoon, depending

What we have known for a while, but can now officially say is...

We have accepted a new referral. It wasn't official until today so I felt I should wait. Of course I recently realized that others were more optomistic (Andrea at Reece's Rainbow), so if you knew where to look, you would have had the heads up.

God sure does have a sense of humor. Scott actually said that she was too young and it took about 5 days for God to soften us up into total submission. It is a great place to be no matter how much it hurts getting there.
Anyway, her real name is not Daria! I am waiting until after court to tell you! Na Na Na Na Na Na! she will be 3 at the end of October.

Every body dance, now!

Ok, so I know you guys are all hoping to hear some news, and I hope to give you some soon, but until then, enjoy this scene from Independance Square, or as we like to call it, The Fountain Steps.

The beginnings of true submission

Thank you dear friends for washing us in a flood of your prayers. They have been a source of comfort that we cannot quantify.
Please know that while we have sorrow, we do not have any fear and we know that we are following God's will. I like to be in control and know exactly what the plan is. I think of the passage James 4:13-17:

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say , "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

How does that apply? God has sent us on a mission. I pridefully believed I knew what it was. I knew some, but just like I always do, I took over and believed I was directing every step. The Lord knows what is going to happen and the steps ittakes to get there. I left no room for His real plans. We were then faced with a choice: Do we embrace God's will and trust Him when we cannot see the way, or do we continue to push for what had become OUR PLAN?
This is a very humbling position to be in. With eventual contrite hearts, we repented and we submit to the Will of the Father. We are in the center of many many unknowns. With God's help, I am resisting the urge to commandeer these next days and weeks, and rest in God's peace. Comfortable in the knowledge that we are where He wants us. Not only that, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Nastia is in His hands. How could I question that? While it is not what I would have willed, I could not dare question God's wisdom. He knows we love her, but how much greater is the love our Father has for her?

From the Charles Spurgeon devotional I read this morning:

"Seeing that we have such a God to trust, let us rest upon Him with all our weight: let us resolutely drive out all unbelief and endeavor to get rid of doubts and fears, which spoil our comfort, since there is no excuse for fear when God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be sorely grieved if his child could not trust him: and how ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little confidence in our heavenly Father, who has never failed us and who never will."

I have asked this before on this blog: Who is your Father? Don't you trust Him?"
I stand before you asking this of myself.

God is my Father. I will not fear.

Difficult news

It is with a heavy heart that I report that due to insurmountable events beyond our control, we are being denied the opportunity to adopt Nastia.
It is so odd. We always knew that there was a chance we would not be able to adopt her, but we always thought that we would know that at the SDA appointment. That for some unknown reason, we would be referred a different child. Never in our wildest dreams (nightmares) did we think we would find out we couldn't adopt her after spending a week visiting twice a day, hugging, kissing, playing, falling deeper and deeper in love. It boggles our minds.
Even in this seeming tragedy, we find comfort. Nastia is healthy. healthier than we ever imagined. She is happy, smart, clever, bright. As far as orphanage institutions go, hers is very equipped. For now, these are good thlngs that we can cling to.
While we don't know what God's plan is, we choose joy. Joy in our Father, who's plans are perfect. We rejoice that He loves us and has a plan. That while in this world, there will be trouble, but we know that He has overcome the world.
Through our tears, we press on.
As you can imagine, I am reluctant to share day by day what will be happening, but know that when we have certain news, I will reveal what our future has become.
Please, continue to pray for us. Pray for Rich and Bridget who have to shepherd our children through this distressing news without us.
We thank our Father that we know with certainty that we are in His hands.

No go

We didn't pass court today. The judge called it a pretrial. We go back on the 6th. A number of things came up. Please pray that all is resolved by then. That's all I'm at liberty to say right now.
Also, there was somehow a question with the homestudy again so CIS has not yet given the approval. Please pray for quick resolution for this problem. I thought it had been resolved already. Clearly I was wrong.
Nastia, as always, is a delight. We are deeper in love with her every day.