The Beginning of this Journey

God sneaks up unawares sometimes. We think that we're the ones pursuing Him, when really, it's the other way around. While groundwork for this journey has been being laid a bit at a time over the past few years, this journey now has a starting point.

This part of the journey began on an unassuming Friday afternoon, 2/11/11 at 5:35 pm. I was just finishing up Daughter of Joy, a free Christian fiction book, on my new Kindle (that I'd patiently saved up my Amazon codes from Swagbucks to purchase). While it had been an enjoyable read, I quickly skimmed the discussion questions so that I could get dinner started.

If you've ever had one of those moments that you just know is bigger than you, that is more than a random thought, one that is life changing . . . . that's what happened next. Discussion question #2 began: Abigail, which means "source of joy" . . .

As I read it, my heart heard the words "Your daughter's name will be Abigail." and I teared up. In the past, I would have immediately thought this meant that we were pregnant. But after 3 miscarriages, 2 healthy children, and another miscarriage two years ago, coupled with the fact that I turn 40 next month make that increasingly unlikely. "Maybe God has another plan for us?" I wondered. Adoption was almost as unlikely as conceiving at this point, given our "just enough" financial situation, and neither one had been on our minds recently.

Dinner preparations found me deep in tearful prayer for our daughter, that God would protect her and bring her to us by whatever means he needed. Opening my Bible, I found myself in the pages of the Psalms, at the beginning of chapter 98. "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory." Through the thin pages I could see several dates marked on the previous page, which was the beginning of Psalm 96, "O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord all the earth."

I wanted to tell someone, but was oh so hesitant. Who hears messages from God like that in the pages of a book? As the pizzas baked, I slipped in to check my email. There was a friend request from someone I'd never met, a friend of a virtual friend. She'd also sent a message about my profile picture that read, "It looks like you delight in your kids, and that warms my heart." As I was replying, I found myself typing the words, "Yes, they bring me such joy." JOY! My fingers flew to type out a request for prayer, relating in shortened form the story above, to this woman I'd never met or even heard of before, and I clicked send before I could second guess myself.

Her reply later was as if it was an every day event to receive prayer requests about God seeds, and she shared a bit about a truth God had given her and how it led to them adopting, even though all the odds were stacked against it. She told of their daughter being practically "dropped in their laps" and financial hurdles being cleared.

Today I visited the blog of a fairly new local friend who has adopted, to find that her post was all about how they were able to afford adoption. Is this the path that God has for us? Time will tell.

So I am starting this blog in faithfulness to God having another daughter for us, Abigail, who will be a source of joy. This is all I know at this point. Would you pray that we would be open to His will for us and lead where he brings us?