Ask, Seek, Knock...

Those three words seem so simple.  In fact, knowing and explaining our faith seems pretty easy too, at times.  It isn't until we actually have to live out those words or instructions that they become real to us.
The reality is easier said than done!  It is easy to encourage others to be patient, faithful, obedient, etc.;  but as the tables turn back to me I understand why a deep-rooted relationship with Christ and encouragement from family & friends is so vital.

ASK
About 9 months ago God started stirring my heart & Mark's heart, but separately.  I heard an amazing woman speak about the millions of orphans in our world, especially in Africa.  I have never been the same since.  Mark was touched by a man with a disability, yet this man was serving God in a tremendous way.  Mark prayerfully decided to start saying yes more often.  That led him to do the prison ministry, Kairos.  He fell in love with this very important ministry and has continued to serve there.  When we realized one another's nudging from God we were forced to ASK... Lord, what is it that you are leading us to do?  How can we serve you better?  How can we serve others in Your name?

SEEK
Before we knew it, we were starting on a journey in search of those answers.  We started praying and searching...we felt that God was leading us into missions somehow.  We had NO CLUE how, when, where, etc.  We met with great mentors and friends along the way and they have been praying for us and guiding us as well.  Long story shorter, we decided to go on a mission trip since Mark had never been on one before.  That led us to the Dominican Republic (see earlier posts).  As the months have passed since our amazing trip, we have continued to seek out various avenues that we felt could have been where God was leading us.  We were recently able to attend the National Missionary Convention in Lexington, KY.  We knew there were going to be many important leaders in the world of missions & we were able to meet many of those amazing followers!  What an eye-opening part of the journey that was for us.  We had been praying to God that we were open to whatever it was that we were seeking, as long as it was HIS will, not ours.  We knew we would love to work with children and we were drawn to organizations that centered on kids. We found places that we would be interested in, but we wanted a place that would best suit our family.  We were excited but overwhelmed.  Nothing felt like it was clicking for us in our hearts though.  Since then, we have been continually praying for guidance.  FINALLY, we feel God has led us to the answer, but not the answer we were expecting...

KNOCK
We are at the threshold of a long process called adoption (looking at what we know so far, it will take around a year).  We have always wanted & discussed adopting (since Grace was a baby).  We somehow knew it was in our future, we just didn't realize the future time had come.  We have already started "knocking" to see if this particular door will be opening more.  So far,  God has overwhelmingly confirmed to us that this is the "mission" He has planned for us at this time in our lives.  We will continue to press on and "knock" as long as the door keeps opening up for us to add on to our family in this avenue.  It is hard to even express how right this feels and how excited we are to have another blessing to our family.  We have always talked about adopting.  We know that God has answered our many prayers (even though He is leading us on a mission a little different from what we thought).  So what now?  We have sent in a heap of paperwork so far and will be hoping for a home study soon (that's when a social worker will come and evaluate our family).  We have decided to adopt a baby girl from Ethiopia.  We would appreciate your prayers for our family (including our baby) throughout this journey.