Encouragement

Yesterday was a day of prayer and fasting in the midst of the regular homeschool routines.  Prayer for direction and guidance, for the new HOPE ministry, and for several friends going through valleys.  I've been learning that fasting forces me to draw closer to God, whether it be for a meal or a day, as the standard "comforts" are out of bounds.  Yesterday was tough ~ it had been several months since I'd fasted, and even my normal eating had become more decadent as I found myself reaching for comfort foods.  But God was good, and despite a tired morning, He brought me through it.  A person from my past in need to prayer, tasks to focus on, and even my daily Bible reading included words to cling to:

He has filled the hungry with good things  . . . Luke 1:53a

Despite that, it was a hard day, and the worry over some things was hard to shake.  Fatigue was wearing me down physically and emotionally. Today I woke up fighting a dark cloud of emotion. But then in Mark 1:9-11, I began to really think about how much of the power that Jesus had came from the Holy Spirit.  If even Jesus had the Holy Spirit to perform so many miracles, how much more important it is for us, who are truly powerless on our own, to have the Spirit of the Lord guiding us and giving us strength?

The encouragement continued.  An email from a friend described an answer to prayer.  Another friend stopped by to drop off several books that she had just found at a yard sale around the corner.  As she handed them to me, she explained that even though God hasn't revealed his plan yet, she thought of Abigail when she saw them and wanted to bring them just in case it should turn out that adoption is the route God has to bring us together with Abigail.

On FB, a sidebar showing my status from a year ago read:  From my fortune cookie: Success won't taste so good, without Failure as appetizers.


An email update from a blog that I follow began with the words:

This post may not be for you      
I do not know everyone this post is written for.
I do know that this post is not written for everyone who will read it.
Who is it written for?
Maybe it is only for one person?
I don’t know.
And don’t need to know.
I do know…

It continued on to talk about considering adoption of a child with special needs.  A short time later, a different blog update was dedicated  " to my friends who are waiting faithfully for the Lord to "bring their children home".  And then the icing on the encouragement cake? 

This book, Daughter of Joy, appeared  on Inspired Reads as a free Kindle download, and showed up today on my FB feed.  The main character's name is Abigail.  This is the book that I had just finished reading the night back in February that we received the Abigail promise. 

So many little bits of encouragement that even when it seems that nothing is happening, God knows how it will all unfold.    Earlier this week a friend had sent a message that included the line, "Also, wanted to share that I am finding my mind and heart praying and thinking lots about Abigail lately.....not sure what God has coming up but it seems He is leading me to pray."

All of these things together made for a very encouraging day, and just helped me to remember that this really is God's plan.  He knows what needs to happen, and when it needs to happen so that He gets the glory.  My job remains staying close enough to Him that I can hear when it is time to move.