Code Orange .... Africa?

It was Tuesday night and I was listening to one of my favorite pastors (other than Rod of course!) online by the name of Steven Furtick.  Steven pastors a mega-church in Charlotte, North Carolina called Elevation which is one of the fastest growing churches in America.  This week they are in the middle of what is called "Code Orange Revival", a 12 day period where they are focusing on how God is going to move in the year 2012.  They have different speakers every night giving a message and a time of praise and worship prior to each message.  So Tuesday night a guy named Perry Noble spoke and was telling about all of the ways that Elevation Church has "seen" God move from the time the church began 6 years ago until now, and then he said but the best is yet to come.  Okay so I already had an emotional breakdown during the praise and worship time with the song "Stronger" by Hillsong and now this!  Yes, the tears began streaming down my face once again.  I have had SO many times where I have gone back and forth, trusting in God's plan with this adoption and then wavering in my faith that He is going to bring my baby girl to me once again.  At that very moment in time I was actually wavering.  Thoughts were going through my head, is the best really yet to come ... if God was really going to make this happen .... if my baby girl would really be lying in my arms someday.  All of this wavering came after God had already spoke to me earlier this week about how faith is believing in advance what will happen in reverse.  God had put that on my heart just a couple of days before and I STILL was wavering.  And then I received a text message, it was a picture message actually.  Odd as it may sound, God spoke to me yet again but this time it was through a picture of an orange!  Ha!  Yes, a picture of an orange that was part-way peeled and the remaining part of the rine was none other than the shape of Africa! Thank you, Jesus!  Thank you, Kaylee!  How crazy for that to happen to my niece, Kaylee, and for her to send the picture to me not even an hour after I had been an emotional basketcase! Crazy? I think not. That my friends was God! Yes, God speaks to us sometimes through unusual things BUT as long as are eyes are open and on Him, He will be sure we don't miss whatever it is He wants us to see!
As for the adoption process, my Dossier is now in Washington DC at the Ethiopian Embassy to get authenticated.  It should take approximately 7-10 days there, before it's ready to be sent to Ethiopia! My coordinator, Leigh Ann, emailed yesterday to give me this news and she also wanted me to reconfirm my preference on the child which was a girl age 2-3 years with my approval being up to 4 years.  She then let me know that they have not received any referrals for toddlers either boy OR girl for quite some time so she could not give me an estimated time for my referral.  With this information, I came to the conclusion that if there is a child out there who needs a home and someone to love on them, that is exactly what I want to do ... even if it is an infant!  The thought of an infant was a bit scary to me at first, but if that is what God has planned for me then that is what I want! This is in His hands, not mine.  Today I received another email from Leigh Ann stating that if I want an infant I am #7 on the waiting list and if I want a toddler, #5.  With the number of infants being given up over the number of toddlers at this time, and the fact that I'm #7, a Biblical number with meanings of "completion" and "perfection", I felt like God was leading me towards the infant!
Praise God for speaking to us through things as odd as an orange - Praise God that He is in control and not us - Praise God for every single one of you that He put in my life for a reason - Praise God for Jesus!
Pray for the church, that our eyes and ears and hearts would be open to see what God sees and hear what God hears - Pray that we would trust and have faith and not waver - Pray that my Dossier gets to Ethiopia without difficulty - Pray for my sweet baby girl ... whatever age she may be!

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it. Matthew 13:16-17

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