I spent the first half of my life dreaming about the children that I would someday raise. Then came the frustrating news that I was infertile. “Why God?” was my prayerful response. “Maybe I need to pray harder, or longer”, I thought. I knew that God had a plan for my life but I could not see the whole picture.
As I sought the Lord with my whole heart, He opened doors that were much greater that my mind could imagine. I began to praise Him for my problem of not being able to bear children. I then asked Him to turn my sorrow into joy and show me the plan that He had for my challenges. I knew that He had everything under control and that He would put the pieces of my life together.
After meeting the director of an adoption and foster care agency, I knocked on the doors of heaven to see if either option was for me. After 5 months of interviews and background checks, my husband and I were approved as official foster parents. Shortly after, our first child, a three year old girl walked into our home and stayed for a full year.
That wonderful year was the beginning of a 27 plus year journey of ministering to many children with insurmountable problems. As children from newborn through late teens were placed in our home, the place of our tent was enlarged. We did not change the structure of our home but rather a single bed was replaced by a crib, then to bunk beds which eventually expanded to multiple rooms with multiple beds.
I now look back at my challenge of infertility and see how the pieces of my life came together to minister to desolate children whose families were crumbling. My Lord and Savior answered prayer, changed lives and gave many of these young ones second chances and hope for the future. Many families were healed and restored because of God and His awesome love and care.
The Lord amazingly fulfilled my overwhelming desire to parent, nurture and encourage by placing 32 children in my family, (no, not all at once). God wonderfully orchestrated His plan in me to meet the desperate needs of many children and families while turning my hopelessness into joy all for His honor and glory.
Promise: Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. Isaiah 54: 1-2
Partnering with God: Thank you, Lord, for children and for the privilege to train them up in your Word and ways. Are you reaching out, influencing and making a difference in the lives of children who are placed in your path? What steps could you take to show love and care for families and their many needs?
Let me know your thoughts!
Partnering with God,
Elaine
Your words resonated with me. Been there, done that! Maybe not the same situations, but I have prayed harder and longer. Suffering is part and parcel with life. I could either feel sorry for myself or treat what has happened as a gift. I might look at my circumstances as an opportunity to grow or as an obstacle to keep me from growing. I choose to grow. As a result my faith has grown 30, 60, 100 fold. We need to learn to regard conflict and suffering as necessary for spiritual growth. Read “Embracing Conflict and Suffering”, http://inspirationandhope.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/embracing-conflict-and-suffering/.
I like what you also said about praising God in your situation. You said “As I sought the Lord with my whole heart, He opened doors that were much greater that my mind could imagine. I began to praise Him for my problem”. You have crested the wave Elaine. Praise God! This is something that many people have not learned, and as a result hinder God’s solution to their problems. Merlin Carothers is a well know Christian author who has written numerous books on praise. He shared in his book “Prison to Praise” that he believes that the very act of praise to God releases God’s power to have sway over our circumstances and allows Him to change the circumstances should it be His will. He believes praise is the highest form of communion with God. Furthermore, I believe that when we pray fervently and we submit to God and obey His will, it is the act of obedience and faith in God that permits God to bring victory over our circumstances. Check out “Victory through Praise” at http://inspirationandhope.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/recipe-for-victory-over-our-circumstances/.
I look forward to reading your upcoming posts.
God Bless.
Thanks Bill for your comments. It is a blessing to hear how your faith has grown through tough circumstances. Praise has been one of the greatest instruments I have used in my prayer life to receive victory. Merlin Carothers books on praise changed my life. I read them over when I need encouragement. May God bless you in this coming year.
Elaine, knowing you for over 40 years it would seem obvious to me that God had a journey for you that was maybe not on “your” agenda, which is something I think most of us go through. Sometimes it seems difficult, as we all know, to understand the path we are on. But from your life and many others, to stay on THE path that God has for You is the only way to go. I can only imagine the joys – and highs and lows – that You have experienced. Those that come in our paths come for a reason – and it is my belief that God had something for YOU to learn, as well as You to teach those that came in Your path. The depths of growth that You must have personally experienced should be inspiring to You. Never forget that God is interested in Your life much more than we can comprehend, and much more love for us than we can ever have for our children! I thank God for being there in Your life, and Your willingness to follow the path He has chosen for You. Much more blessings to come I am sure! Don’t know about You but I absolutely LOVE trials…more specifically, coming through them to the other side. Always with a little more depth of understanding. Wishing You always the best, my friend!
Thank you Carl for your very kind words. I know that you have gone through a lot challenges and it is wonderful to hear that God has brought you safely through to the other side. As you said, “Staying on God’s path really is the only way to go!” Keep trusting the Lord with all your heart! He is the author and finisher of our faith. Have a blessed year.
What a neat way to share God’s working and ministering through your life. Two of my children were foster parents and added to their families through this opportunity.
Thanks June for your comments. Foster care is an at home mission experience that is needed in families today. You are right that it was a display of God’s working in our lives. May God bless you.
It’s encouraging to know other people who had a particular American Dream planned for their lives and then it just didn’t work out the way we planned. But, through God, we were given a new plan in which we could glorify Him to the greater.
Dear Joan, It is amazing to me how God’s plan for me was so different than my plan for my life. I am grateful that He is in control and I believe that His ways are much better than mine. Have a blessed year in Jesus!
HI ELAINE,
YOUR WEBSITE IS WONDERFUL AND ALSO YOUR TESTIMONY AND WRITING . IT CERTAINLY IS A GREAT WAY TO SHARE JESUS CHRIST WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS WHO ARE GOING THROUGH MANY SIMILAR TRIALS AND THE LORD HAS BROUGHT YOU THROUGH MANY WALKS OF LIFE , ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!
Thank you so much for your kind comments. The Lord tells us to let His light shine before men so that they can see God’s good works and glorify Him. Using the internet to connect people to the Lord, I hope will be a tool that God uses in my life to glorify Him.
Have a blessed 2014.
Hey mom I really like what you wrote about fostering. Good way to put it. Love you. -D
Thanks Danielle. I am glad you read it. You know first hand what taking in children is all about. Your comment means so much to me.
This is such a wonderful testimony of what God does when we are willing to give Him everything, our dreams, our broken hearts. And how His Word has been LITERALLY fulfilled for you! He blew open doors and windows for you to a much bigger, grander ministry, His ministry, one that you never envisioned. Only when you get to heaven will you realize the full impact of all that you have poured out into so many broken lives. God’s heart is all about adoption; He adopted all of us. Just last Sunday, I heard a speaker give an amazing message on the Doctrine of Adoption. His thesis is that yes, Jesus came to forigve and save us from sin, but that is not the endpoint, as great as that is. The endpoint is adoption, that we would all be adopted into God’s family and have full rights and privileges as sons and daughters, including inheritance. You have lived out this truth, Elaine, over many years. Not that it was easy (in fact, just the opposite, I’m sure) but by daily obedience and equipping by our faithful God who called you. Bless you, Elaine, for living out God’s truths faithfully and encouraging me always in my walk. You were the first one to teach me to PRAISE God for everything, just like His word says.
Thanks Grace for your encouraging words. What an awesome sermon title on the Doctrine of Adoption! God’s plan is so amazing and exciting as He puts together all the details of our lives. Salvation, adoption, forgiveness, etc. all to include us as special members of His eternal family. May the Lord bless you and your family in 2014.