When we first met James and Sarah at a park (in July 2015),
Sarah was barely walking and not really talking. James was bouncing off
anything and everything, but let us play with him. We met another time or two
at a park. In the meantime, the court had a hearing and proceeded to pursue
adoption rather than reunification. They were to schedule a hearing 3 months
out to terminate the parents’ rights. However, it never got scheduled.
We continued to schedule meetings with the kids, though. In
the Fall (of 2015), we met the kids at the Toledo Zoo and then scheduled their
first visit to our house for the weekend before Thanksgiving. The plan was to
introduce the kids to our house and then keep the kids over the Thanksgiving
weekend overnight. We had a bad snow storm, though, and the foster family
turned around after making it only a few miles. We still went ahead with the
Thanksgiving overnight the next weekend. I was nervous and it ended up far
worse than I had imagined. They screamed and flailed an hour at bedtime. We
tried to reassure them that they were going home the next day, we hugged them,
we scratched backs, but nothing seemed to calm them. Of course, I can’t imagine
what was going on in their little heads and how confused they must have felt.
Sarah screamed about 5 different times throughout the night, too. It was
horrible! What made it worse is that we didn’t even know how likely it would be
for us to adopt the kids.
We couldn’t argue God’s hand in the details leading up to
this point, so we had to continue following His lead even through all the
difficulties and unknowns.
As with the blind man Jesus healed, his life didn’t get
easier after encountering and following Jesus. He could see, but he then got
kicked out of the synagogue!
John 9:24-34 24 A
second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by
telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He
replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I
was blind but now I see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What
did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He
answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want
to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” 28 Then
they hurled insults at him… 30 The man answered…31 We
know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who
does his will.32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the
eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not
from God, he could do nothing.” 34 To this they
replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And
they threw him out.
How has following
Jesus brought blessings, but also hardship
and turmoil? God works through the hardships to develop perseverance and grow
our faith, just as He did with the blind man. Where do you and I need to
persevere (remembering the blessings), knowing God will be with us and help us?
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