Reminders when I least expect it

Sometimes in the midst of hard days that leave me wondering about my capability of getting through life as it is, much less taking on this new venture, God sends little reminders that this is His plan ~ not mine.  As I was sorting through a stack of papers on a cluttered side table, this coloring sheet showed up.  Abigail is wise.  I recognized the stack of coloring pages from the weekend before, when we'd gone to church with my parents during a visit there.  After the children's message, each child is given a clipboard with coloring pages and crayons to use during the sermon.  Several seats down the row with grandma, my daughter was carefully coloring a picture of Abigail.

I was reminded of a story that I'd read early on in this journey about a little girl named Teddi.  Her mama had been given her name several years before she was born on the other side of the world, which was several years before she was adopted.  Tina (One Blessed Nest) tells the story of how God was faithful to keep sending little reminders of His plan as she would see variations of their little girl's name throughout those eight years.  (Thank you, Tina, for sharing your story and helping build my trust!)

The other night was a hard one, and I found myself opening my Bible to a random page.  Sometimes God speaks to me through His word in this way, and the margins of my Bible are increasingly becoming noted with dates of certain verses.  It fell open to the book of Esther, and there in chapter 2, verse 15 I read, "When the turn came for Esther (the girl Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) . . ."  It's not quite Abigail, but it's close.  :)  And it makes me wonder (yet again) if the path He leads us on will end up including adoption.  But for now, there hasn't been any word to move forward in any specific way.


Just to continue praying . . . and preparing . . . and obeying the steps we've been given for now.  Those steps have included beginning to take the first part of any income and giving it to God.  Beginning to pray together (my husband and I) on a regular basis.  Examining the different ways that we are spending our time and our money to see which ones are giving God our best at this season of life.  Opening ourselves to hearing God's voice and direction in all areas of life in ways that we haven't before.  So that when that time does come, we will hopefully be ready.