As par for the course, we've had yet another victory!! Last week, we successfully completed an intense day of home study interviews!! The moments leading up to that day were probably more intense than the day itself, however. Knowing that a complete stranger is planning to spend several hours in your home, taking notes on her impressions (the good, the bad, and the ugly) was a LOT nerve-racking to say the least. Fortunately, the Lord had already forged our path ahead and had us placed our hearts and minds exactly where they needed to be when they needed to be there :)
For the past two weeks, I've been participating in a bible study on Gideon: finding God's strength in our weakness. The message before the home study was all about how the Lord insisted that Gideon send the majority of his already mere military force home before handing him victory over the consuming Midianites. From 32,000 soldiers to 300, God successfully led Gideon to win the war! The odds were more than stacked against His children…450 Midianites for every 1 Israelite.
The odds are stacked against us.
Currently, we have a deficit of funds to pay all the costs associated with bringing you home. We have no experience raising a teenager, or a girl, or a girl that has lost so much. We have language barriers to overcome. We're up against political waves that are increasingly seeming insurmountable. And, just like Gideon, our day of battle is just around the corner: May 21st; your sixteenth birthday…when the INS closes your window to America.
Our situation is overwhelming. I've personally been fighting all of these doubts that are unintentionally planted by various people who mean well, but who are hellbent on the stark "reality" before us (and are assumably concerned that we must be in denial). Frankly, I've been a grump all day. That is, until this set of Scripture cards lying on the coffee table caught my eye. I just happened to use the back of one of them to write a note on your full name this afternoon (when I was scrambling for a nearby anything to write on because I was too lazy to walk four feet to the desk). After unsuccessfully (or so I thought) praying for peace, I felt oddly compelled to pick up the cards, once I noticed them, and read the verses (typed in the exact order I read them…that in itself is amazing):
"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me." -Is. 46:9
"'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you." -Is. 54:10
"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." -Is. 26:3
"…and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor." -Is. 61:3
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners…" -Is. 61:1
"Since ancient times no one has heard, no one has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, Who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him." -Is. 64:4
"They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations." -Is. 61:4
"…to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn." -Is. 61:2
"'You are my witnesses, ' declares the Lord, 'and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me.'"-Is. 43:10
"No weapon forged against you will prevail." -Is. 54:17
Our "300" was/is/will be enough, and the glory of every victory plainly His <3
