Most of you know that we are big fans of He Reads Truth / She Reads Truth in Chez Doop. The current study is on The Presence of God, and as I was listening to the podcast this morning, one of the founders was talking about God's presence with the Israelites. She talked about how the Lord could have led them on a quicker path toward the Philistines, "Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt" (Exodus 13:17 ESV). She went on to say that even though the Israelites thought they knew what they needed, the Lord knew what they actually needed.
Welp, if that didn't hit me like a ton of bricks mid-run. How often we condemn the people of Israel - "The Lord delivered them from slavery, can't they just be grateful and do what he says?" "Can't they stop complaining about the food and just eat it?" "Can't they stop worshiping other gods and worship the one true God?" and so many other things - when we are just. like. them. We forget the great things God has done for us and aren't grateful for his deliverance from our old way of life. We don't obey him. We complain. We may not physically bow down to other gods, but our hearts are bent toward other things apart from Him. We think we know what we need but we really don't.
Our adoption has gone really quiet after a summer packed full of info summaries. It is so strange to hurry up and wait. Back in June I had to call my boss at A+ and say "Hey, I might be out of state all summer, so we need a backup plan in place." We Zoomed with a potential birth mother who ultimately chose another family, which meant no travel. We continued to get info summaries followed by "she chose another family" emails up until the week of school starting. I had to meet with my new principal before school started to say "Hey, we're showing again to a birth mother who has already delivered, so there's a real possibility I won't be here for the start of school." She chose another family, too.
And it's been relatively quiet for the past month, which is weird this go round. Last week, I was feeling sorry for myself and the seeming silence during my quiet time. I felt very plainly the Spirit speaking to me and asking, "Do you REALLY think you could have handled a new baby on top of everything you faced in August?" [New school, opening school in the midst of the chaos of 2020, costly repairs to both vans, and the washing machine died - like they don't make the part anymore died - all in one month.] Immediately humbled, I answered no. I didn't know what was around the corner when we got all of those "she chose another family" emails, and I still don't know. However, I do know that the same God who saw the Israelites through the desert into the Promised Land is the same God who is fulfilling his promises for my family today.
