Encouraged

Today I am encouraged by the realization that God's plan is so much bigger and greater than anything I could dream up on my own.  His timing is more perfect than any I could try to orchestrate.

When I just look out my own narrow window of how Abigail could join our family, it is discouraging, because there are mainly two options that come to mind:  by birth (increasingly unlikely as time goes on) or adoption (financially unlikely at present).  Yesterday I had the strangest sense that something relating to Abigail was imminent, which didn't make sense in terms of these two options.

Today, though, I was reminded that God doesn't operate within the constrictions of my narrow understanding.  Linny at A Place Called Simplicity wrote a beautiful post about how she and her husband became parents to adult African orphans who were still desperately wanting a father and a mother despite no longer being children.   Reading that post, it made me realize that in God's family, a son or daughter can become part of His family at any age.  That maybe in our family, Abigail won't be a baby, or even a small child.  She may not even come to live in our house . . .  or city . .  . or country. 

No matter how hard I try to envision what God has in store, chances are that when it happens He will amaze me with the way it comes about.   Will it be a split instant change when there is a knock on the door or a phone call or email received?  Will it unfold gradually?   It is encouraging to think that in the least likely of circumstances, God could bring our daughter into our lives.   So I live today with anticipation that one day in the (not so distant?) future, we will look at each other and say, "So THIS is how it happens.  Praise the LORD!"