Rhema, Reflection and 5 months....

RHEMA - A rhema is a verse or portion of Scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention with application to a current situation or need for direction. 
Have you ever had a RHEMA?  A Word from God?  That was brought up in our Sunday School class today.  Pastor Randy used Jack and I as an example, saying that we most likely had a Word from God to confirm our desire to adopt.  It really struck home with me.  It stirred my heart. It resonated down deep in my soul.  It brought back a very profound memory.  I did indeed have a RHEMA.  I can't recall one in paticular before we adopted, but the morning we were to get Jia, I received a Word.  I actually blogged about it here.
I remember being such a bundle of nerves.  We were in a foreign land, away from all comforts... including our home, our children, our familiar smells, our language, oreos!  We had no clue what that day would bring.  I remember at one point we were actually questioning whether or not we were doing what's best for Jia.  Taking her from all her comforts to live in a foreign land.  I imagined her waking up that morning in her orphanage, then being removed from all she's known, drove 4 hours in a bus, and handed off to people she's never seen before.  I truly questioned if it was our own selfish desires, or if this was what's best for her.
We spent some time in the Word that morning, hoping to calm our doubts and fears and that's when the scripture just jumped off the page at me.  Psalms 68:6 God sets the lonely in families.  I had read the verse before that one a hundred times Psalms 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.  But I had never read on.  I remember just feeling so peaceful about what the day was to bring.  God sets the lonely in families.  They are not to be left orphaned.  It is His desire for them to be taken into a home, loved, cherished, adored, adopted... just as God does us, His children.  I stood upon that verse, knowing that after 3 years, God was remaining faithful and giving us our daughter.  His daughter, to love, cherish, adore and instruct for a season.  I still stand upon that verse as we build Joint Heirs Adoption Minstry, in hopes of helping others take the lonely into their familes.
It wasn't until after church, that I realized that it was also our 5 month anniversary!  We held Jia for the first time June 22nd!  I have no doubts that we did what was best for her.  It's hard to imagine her once being abandoned, living in an orphange and having no one to love her.  It's hard to imagine a child ever being more loved and cherished than her.  She has absolutely thrived and taken over, not only our home, but our hearts as well.

June 22, 2009

November 2009