“I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.”
Psalm 27:13-14
When you’re a couple in your early thirties (maybe pushing mid-thirties) and have been married for over nine years people are bound to wonder when children will come into the picture. Some people wonder a little more directly than others, “So, are you ever going to have kids?”, and others have great advice to share, “Don’t wait too long.”
We began our lives together with the perfect plan. We would spend the first five years of our marriage getting to know each other, traveling the world,
and establishing our careers. This would all be easier and more fun unencumbered by the responsibility of raising children. Five years came and went. We realized we were just scratching the surface of “getting to know each other,” we hadn’t traveled even a fraction as much as we wanted, and neither of our careers were where we had envisioned them 5 years before – but we were right where God wanted us, and we loved our life together.
However, we began to have this longing to be parents and about six years after we married, we began to try to have children. We quickly realized that the process wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought and our perfect plan wasn’t quite in our hands. After the first year, we completed a few testing procedures, and the doctors informed us that nothing was wrong. We were healthy. We continued to wait, but we knew then that the Lord was up to something.
We continued to pray and investigate fertility treatments. At the same time, we knew that God, who is ultimately Sovereign would show us what to do next. After careful praying, he clearly showed us that he didn’t want us pursuing medical routes. We didn’t know why, but both of us were confident that wasn’t our path to parenthood. Over the next year, the desire to be parents burned within our hearts, and we sought the Lord over how he wanted us to do that. We decided to fast and pray through the next steps. What came from that time of seeking the Lord was a dependence on him and a desire to learn more about adoption. We went to a class and learned more about the process. The Lord was doing something.
In that time period, my brother and sister-in-law also adopted a baby. We were able to see God’s hand in the plan for their lives as the beautiful story he had for them continued to unfold around us. One day, Bryan looked at me and said, “There is a baby out there who needs parents, and we know we could be really good parents to provide for this child a loving home, centered on Jesus Christ.” I knew right then; it was time. We were standing at the precipice, and it was our turn to jump. We submitted our application three years after trying to have children the way we first envisioned.
While everything isn’t happening exactly like we planned–I’m not sure what does in this great adventure of life–we couldn’t be more excited about how God has carefully crafted a sincere joy and enthusiasm in our hearts about adoption. It is the true reflection of Jesus and the people he loves. To be so excited and waiting for that person that we don’t even know yet, but already love is hard to explain. We have no idea what he or she will look like or what little personality we will meet, but we know that it will all be part of God’s plan. To walk in his purpose with the confidence that he has crafted this beautiful and intricate plan for us assures us that He is in this and will be forever. Ultimately, God has shown us that adoption is not Plan B for our lives. This is always what he’s wanted for us.
