What is He doing?

A few months ago before we began sharing with our family and close friends that we planned to adopt a child from Ethiopia, we had prepared ourselves for a variety of reactions from supportive to completely opposed and everything in between.

My dad was definitely an area of concern as far as what his reaction would be. I was pretty confident he would not be ecstatically happy about the idea, I just didn't know how negative he'd be.

For three or four weeks I tried to tell him the news but things just kept interfering. I'd call and he'd be about to get on an airplane, he'd call me back and I'd be right in the middle of something with the kids and not really able to talk. I was beginning to feel bad, nearly everyone else close to us knew and I was afraid he was going to find out through someone else.

But finally after nearly 4 weeks of trying, I was able to get a hold of him on a Saturday during a time convenient for both of us to talk a bit. After I told him the first thing he said was, "I'm glad I'm hearing this now. I just saw the movie The Blind Side last night and it makes me see this whole thing differently than I would have before seeing that movie."

He was able to take the news calmly, even be slightly supportive, much better than I expected! But, if I had told him when I planned to 3 weeks earlier, the result could have been (and likely would have been) so different.

God orchestrated that timing!

For three weeks I wondered why we couldn't seem to connect for more than a 2 minute phone call! Which brings me to a point I need reminding of every day:

We don't always know what God is doing.

One of the aspects of the Easter story I didn't think much about until recent years was just how dark everything must have seemed right after Jesus died on the cross. To His followers, His family, His disciples their king was dead. They had placed all their hopes in Jesus, many left everything to follow Him. They became sure He was their savior. And then they watched Him die, a horrific death. I cannot even fathom the despair they must have felt! But oh how everything changed on Sunday! He was alive again, God had raised him from the dead!

I recently did a Bible study on Genesis ch. 39 & 40 where Joseph is put in prison because Potiphar's wife falsely accused him. Joseph did the right thing, he ran away when she tried to seduce him, but he ended up being the one thrown in jail. At that point I'm sure no one, especially not Joseph, could imagine how God was going to use that situation for good, but He did use it to lead to Joseph becoming the 2nd most important man in all of Egypt!

Although we don't always know what God is doing, we do know that He is good, and He is causing all things to work together for good.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Rom. 8:28

This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.
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