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Loving Greatly by Lawana McGuffey
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Loving Greatly by Lawana McGuffey
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Hi everyone. This is another of what may be weekly updates
as we near the day we leave to pick up Grace. If I have already given some
of this information before, please forgive me.
First of all, thank you so much for your prayers on Grace's
behalf! God is speaking to people and they are listening! The people
in Colombia who are in charge of Grace's care are doing some of her surgical
work. The optimal time is now, but I figured they would postpone until we
came to get her. I am impressed with this and consider it an answer to our
prayers that she would be well cared for until we can get her home. Also,
last week a dear family gave us 2000 dollars toward our travel and in-country
expenses. This is between 1/3 to 1/4 of what we should need!
God is so good!
You may not know, but when we are considering adopting a child,
we start with a sense that the Lord is asking us to be open to another
child. At this time we wrestle with our faith and settle the "But how
will we feed another child?" question. Then we usually do a round or
two with the "But Lord, we are getting old and wearing out"
argument. We are a lot like Moses was when he bemoaned his stammering lips
when the Lord called him to go before Pharaoh. When, once again we are
reminded that it is the Lord Himself who feeds us all and that He gives us our
health and knows the day appointed for our deaths, we say "yes."
At this point we begin looking at various children. We have always known
that we are only to adopt children that have no other hope for a family.
Those who are continually passed over. We will never have our dossier go
before a birth mother or social worker or orphanage director to compete with
other families. If someone else wants the child, they are not for us (at
least this has always been the case thus far.) For every child we have
ever adopted, there are 3 or 4 that we thought might be ours and the Lord closed
the door. We try not to grieve too much over these, knowing that we only
want the children that the Lord wants in our home. (Oh how tempting it
would be to seek after a healthy little infant that looks just like us! We
have normal emotions and would love to take the easy route, but that isn't the
road we are called to walk.) When the Lord seems to open the door on a
particular child we walk in. Usually there is some huge obstacle, either
the special needs of the child or children (the emotionally disturbed
children are the ones that strike the most fear in our hearts) or the price of
the adoption or both. At every obstacle we say ,"Lord, if you believe
we can, we can!" As we move forward God supplies the strength,
the courage, the stamina, the money, or whatever that day dictates. This
is how the last 11 years have been for us.
Sometimes dear people ask us questions about the logistics of
having more than a couple of children on law enforcement wages or parenting more
and younger children with our age and the health problems we sometimes have.
They ask about college and how the first children feel about cutting an already
thin pie into more pieces. They ask what kinds of opportunities we can
offer our children and why take another one if we are struggling
financially. I'd like to answer as best I can for any of you who may be
wondering the same thing. One scripture that is very meaningful to us is Micah
6:8.
We try to do this one. We can't offer our children a
college education, or a car, or sometimes even a bicycle, but compared to what
some of them would have had in their first situations, they are rich beyond
imagination. They are fed (often miraculously and sometimes by other
people's generosity), they are clothed (the same way ... many of you who
are reading this have both fed and clothed our children.) They are
fiercely loved, they have, so far, had the blessing of good medical care for
which we are so grateful to God. They are taught God's word as best we
understand it from the moment they join our family. And they have a family, a
name, a place to belong. Yes, some have rejected us and for a time we have
been too broken for God to use us much. But ... He lifts our heads and He
gives us more work to do ... another chance. We can't be sure that we will
live to see our children grow up or stay healthy, but nobody has that
assurance. God knows our age and health status better than we do. Do
we ever worry that we can't make it? Yes, I'd be a liar if I said
otherwise. It is very scary, like walking on a tight rope. We all
walk a tight rope though, whether we know it or not. Without God's grace
as our net, we can do nothing but perish. With that net, we cannot fall
far. Just far enough to remind us of how secure that net feels.
About how the other children feel ... I am so blessed by their
willingness to give some of what they have to someone who has nothing.
They have always amazed me that way. That is probably the greatest
blessing of this entire walk God has put us on.
Well, this is much longer than I thought it would be. I
thank you for reading this far. I know you are all busy doing what God has
called YOU to do and I appreciate that you care about us. Please join us
in praising God because He is worthy of our praise. We also thank you for
your prayers.
Updated prayer list:
Some Christian contact in Bogotá
Money to complete the travel and in-country amount
The right caregivers for the children while we are both in
Colombia
Strength for the Mommy and the Poppy
Courage
Health and strength for children and parents
A way to pay off the ranch
That we would be used to lead others to Christ and to disciple
believers
Thank you and may God bless you today.
Lawana, for the McGuffey family
P.S. I have attached a couple of photos of partial rainbow from
our house. The other end where the pot of gold rests is of course in our
back yard. Mary-Hannah was the photographer.
Home Page, www.spaciousskies.me/hosannaranch/ This page, www.spaciousskies.me/hosannaranch/lovegreatly.html |
