I've noticed (as I'm sure many of my Christian friends have as well) that when you have faith in Jesus, recognize Him as the epi-center, the Lord and Savior, of your life, that Satan doesn't particularly like that. He does all he can to destroy that faith by attacking anything and everything that will cause you to stumble and fall into sin. But, in my opinion, his favorite vicious efforts, is his attacks on families by causing animosity, discouragement, despair, mistrust...you name it and he will use it against you and your family. Anything for you to give up your faith in Christ, turn away from God's will and turn to him, the prince of this world.
I have noticed that in our recent plans to adopt, he is well at work again. Of course, Daniel and I are wise to his schemes and realize that we are truly doing God's will by pursuing this adoption because of Satan's miserable attempts to derail us. Let me share a few things that he already has thrown our way in the short time we've decided to adopt:
It began with a small oil leak in our car. Within a short week and a half the small drip turned into Old Faithful! Using 5 quarts of oil in 4 days. I was sure that a seal had broken and we were looking at least a $600 repair cost. That would definitely set us back on our attempts to save up for those intial adoption fees. Discouragement began to set in. I was afraid. Afraid that maybe we would never raise enough funds. Never get this started. Never see our son...due to too many financial obstacles making it impossible!
Praise be to God, as the fix was a $40 oil filter. But I saw, quite clearly, what Satan was trying to do. It isn't the incident itself that he was using to derail me, it was the discouragement, fear and heartbreak he was using through this trial to try to get us to shrug off the idea of adopting. He wants us to believe that the idea of adoption was insane! We are middle class! We can't afford this! We have too many other obligations...instead of trusting that God will make it all work, will pull things together and we must be patient and wait on Him.
Another immediate obstacle we faced, was sparks shooting out of an outlet in our kitchen! Yes, terrifying and discouraging. I began to think that we would have to have a total wiring make-over, but again God came through! The microwave we had was the culprit and we just needed to replace the outlet with a safer one, a mere $16 fix and our wonderful friends, Matt and Carrie, gave us an extra microwave they'd had in storage, so we didn't have to spend anything on replacing the flamethrowing, fire hazard threatening our home!
Satan doesn't stop at using these kinds of things to dissuade us from following God's will. I have seen that he's slithering in between Daniel and I. Small arguments over things that are insignificant. Snapping at each other and not keeping respect and honor high in our marriage. After the first day this happened, the same day as the flame-throwing outlet incident, I realized that we were under attack. And severely. So, I prayed. I prayed that God would not let me forget that He was standing firmly beside us during this time. That He was the anchor in this endeavor and that we are his vessels. That there is a small boy out there somewhere that the Lord wants to come home to our family and I prayed for strength against these attacks so that our son can come home, as God wills it to be.
We recognize the attempts for what they are: Opposition to God's Will being done. Adoption is God's plan. Not just for the children who find themselves without homes, but for those of us who follow Christ. Through His blood, the faith that we have in it's power to save, we have become the adopted sons and daughters of the Lord. I can not, now that I have begun on the adoption journey, turn aside. If God loves me enough to bring me into His family, I must do the same for the faceless boy who God has already destined for us.
So I stand firm, although the ground often feels shaky. Psalm 27 is my comfort in these days of daunting challenge. Verse 14 reminds me to stay courageous, 'Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!'
God Bless and thanks to those of you who are in prayer for us Laceys:)
Terry
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