Held by Hope!

Wow. This has been an emotional week and a half. A friend's brother (29) was killed in a car accident, my sister miscarried her baby at 12 weeks, and then the news of Maria Chapman's death. It is almost too much to take in. I cannot imagine facing a new day if we did not have the hope in God's promise that we would see these precious ones again someday! All day I have been thinking about the song, "Held," that Natalie Grant sings. I love the lyrics..."This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive. This is what it is to be loved, and to know that the promise was that when everything fell, we'd be held." For us, we have received news this week that our agency in India is awaiting their re-certificaton. They have been undergoing the process for a couple of months, and all babies are on hold until the certification goes through. This is one of those government things they talk about that are totally out of your control. Right now, this has put all referrals on hold. They are hoping to maybe have a visit from CARA, the central agency in India this week, and maybe that will be the last step needed before they can begin placing children with families again. As we are waiting in this adoption process, encountering the joys, the frustrations, the setbacks, the answered prayers, the silence...I love the verses in scripture that picture us as God's children, being held in the palm of His hands. Nothing in our lives happens without His knowledge and permission...for His glory and our good! While we wait, we are sitting in the palm of God's hand and He is ordering our lives. I know that our little boy in India is sitting in the Lord's other hand and one day soon, He will bring us together in a forever family.