I just have to write about this; it is just oozing out of me!
I admit that I tend to be a talk radio nerd at times. I like to listen to the discussions of what is happening in the country, in the government, etc. That’s not to say that I claim to know anything about politics, I just like to listen to it. Sometimes. I think it is important to be an informed citizen and understand what is going on in our country; but I need to turn it off when I start to get too frustrated or distracted with all the cage rattling.
Last week, as everyone knows, all forms of media combined to sound like a deafening fog horn warning that financial trouble is coming our way (or has arrived). I started to question our adoption situation. When we are being told that another great depression is headed our way, the natural response is to evaluate our financial situation and how we could make it through a dry time. I started to wonder if we would be able to afford our adoption. Would potential rising inflation make our savings fall short of what we will need to pay for the adoption? If we are entering into such dire financial times, is spending thousands and thousands of dollars (pretty much all our savings) on adoption a good idea? Is that really wise?! These were my questions and last week I went into my Precepts Bible Study with this burden on my heart and I shared it during the prayer time.
Ahh, how I love the Lord’s faithfulness and “ever present help in a time of trouble”! Through our study of I Samuel that morning, we were discussing when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant from Israel brought it into the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, the Philistines found their helpless statue of Dagon on his face before the ark. We began to discuss how America’s “Dagon” is our financial security and on 9-11, our “Dagon” fell on its face. It was a good discussion that challenged me to really look at where my security lies. At the end of our study, a passage was read (by Kay Arthur on the video -who obviously knew nothing about my concerns) from Isaiah that grabbed my attention regarding my heart for adoption and orphans:
“Is this not the kind of fasting that I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yolk? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –when you see the naked, to clothe him…” Isaiah 58:6-7
On the way home from church, I stopped at a park to let the kids play while I re-read that chapter in its entirety. Remember, I had come to Bible study with a burden on my heart, a question of God’s plan for our adoption and how our finances would be sufficient in troubling times, and this is the passage that was given to me from Isaiah 58:
“If you spend yourself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.” Isaiah 58:10-11
Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart felt like God had just stuck a claim stake deeply in! And I said, "Thank You, Lord!" The Bible is His Living Word and He spoke to me! I came away with a calm assurance that whatever comes our way, being in God’s will is the only place I want to be! It probably won’t make sense or seem wise, but since when does God work that way?!
I admit that I tend to be a talk radio nerd at times. I like to listen to the discussions of what is happening in the country, in the government, etc. That’s not to say that I claim to know anything about politics, I just like to listen to it. Sometimes. I think it is important to be an informed citizen and understand what is going on in our country; but I need to turn it off when I start to get too frustrated or distracted with all the cage rattling.
Last week, as everyone knows, all forms of media combined to sound like a deafening fog horn warning that financial trouble is coming our way (or has arrived). I started to question our adoption situation. When we are being told that another great depression is headed our way, the natural response is to evaluate our financial situation and how we could make it through a dry time. I started to wonder if we would be able to afford our adoption. Would potential rising inflation make our savings fall short of what we will need to pay for the adoption? If we are entering into such dire financial times, is spending thousands and thousands of dollars (pretty much all our savings) on adoption a good idea? Is that really wise?! These were my questions and last week I went into my Precepts Bible Study with this burden on my heart and I shared it during the prayer time.
Ahh, how I love the Lord’s faithfulness and “ever present help in a time of trouble”! Through our study of I Samuel that morning, we were discussing when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant from Israel brought it into the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, the Philistines found their helpless statue of Dagon on his face before the ark. We began to discuss how America’s “Dagon” is our financial security and on 9-11, our “Dagon” fell on its face. It was a good discussion that challenged me to really look at where my security lies. At the end of our study, a passage was read (by Kay Arthur on the video -who obviously knew nothing about my concerns) from Isaiah that grabbed my attention regarding my heart for adoption and orphans:
“Is this not the kind of fasting that I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yolk? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –when you see the naked, to clothe him…” Isaiah 58:6-7
On the way home from church, I stopped at a park to let the kids play while I re-read that chapter in its entirety. Remember, I had come to Bible study with a burden on my heart, a question of God’s plan for our adoption and how our finances would be sufficient in troubling times, and this is the passage that was given to me from Isaiah 58:
“If you spend yourself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.” Isaiah 58:10-11
Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart felt like God had just stuck a claim stake deeply in! And I said, "Thank You, Lord!" The Bible is His Living Word and He spoke to me! I came away with a calm assurance that whatever comes our way, being in God’s will is the only place I want to be! It probably won’t make sense or seem wise, but since when does God work that way?!
4 comments:
Thanks so much for sharing this, Heidi. I really enjoy hearing what the Lord is teaching you and showing you.
What a great word! Another truth that God has brought to mind often is Hebrews 12:26-28
"At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”
27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken––that is, things that have been made––in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe"
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, but we stand on a kingdom that will not be moved.
tears welled up in my eyes reading how the Lord showed himself and His will to you through His word. How powerful!!
I can so relate! Watching our investment account shrink rapidly, and realizing that we won't have that to fall back on has been a challenge. I keep reminding myself "Lord, it was all Yours to start with, and it is all Yours in the end."
:-)Renee', A fellow AWAA Ethiopia fam.
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