In June of the year 2008, God blessed my family by allowing us to adopt a seven year old girl. She came to us one Tuesday morning scared to death. I'll never forget the moment my doorbell rang, I opened the door and there she stood. She was a beautiful little thing with long dark hair and tears rolling down her cheeks. I asked her if she wanted to come in and live with me and she threw herself into my arms and into my heart forever.
At the tender age of only seven, my sweet new daughter had already been through more in her life, than most of the adults I know. She had not slept in a bed, but on the floor until she was five years old. She had experienced neglect and hunger. She had been in rooms filled with the fumes of "crack" being made all around her. And yet, after everything she had gone through, she had to be the sweetest little girl I had and have ever met! God's spirit of grace and mercy flows so strongly from her that on almost a daily basis I have someone comment on how darling she is. Thank you Lord!
She is so funny and my family and I absolutely adore her. Her love for life is contagious and I'm so grateful God has allowed me to be her mom. What a joy and blessing she is in my life. My family and I would laugh with her constantly! At moments of frustration she would say "Oh Snaps". Yes...that is snap with an "s". We would literally fall off the chair laughing. It is a favorite saying of ours now.
My daughter is now 12, and I'm not sure she realizes what a great witness she is to God's great love and mercy. I pray she becomes aware and she uses it for His glory.
As you might imagine she was attached to me at the hip from the very beginning. Where I went, she went. I teach a women's bible study on Thursday night and she loved to tag along with me. Of course it meant I had to check her into the children's area but that was ok with her because she started to make friends pretty quickly. She loved going with me! One Thursday night we arrived at the church at our regular time. She asked me to go into the ladies room and of course my answer was "yes". I didn't want her to make a mess on the floor! After a few short minutes she ran out of the restroom and approached me and a friend I was speaking with. Her eyes were as big as saucers and she yelled at me "Mom!!!, your name is all over the bathroom walls! You are an almost famous woman!". My friend Sherri, and I laughed until we cried. As a teenager I would have been mortified to here these words! It all turned out well though as there are posters in the ladies room announcing our current bible study with my name and number as a contact in order for women to register. Whew!!
My goal has never been to be "a famous woman". It is however my goal to make the One who has seen me through the trials as well as the happiness and great delights of my life famous. I love to teach women in bible study and I love to interact with women of all walks of life. I believe God has called me to minister to women, and He has given me an array of experiences to draw from. They include such things as infertility, miscarriages, adoption of two children, troubles in my marriage, a very strong willed child, and most recently, cancer. There are also many I have not listed here! A meaningful quote I recently read in a blog by Leslie Leyland Fields is “ . . . For we do not, after all, simply have experience; we are entrusted with it. We must do something—make something—with it. A story, we sense is the only possible habitation for the burden of our witnessing.” Patricia Hampl
I believe God has allowed these experiences for the sole purpose of enabling me to minister and to witness to other women as they experience the same type of life's harships and joys. It's not about me, it's all about HIM!
2 Corinthians 1: 4 "He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
I look forward to sharing these stories of God's greatness, mercy and love with you. See you again soon!
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