Hours before we found out we had been matched to adopt a baby boy due in December, my husband and I sat in our nursery and prayed over our adoption. We prayed for the birth mom we were presenting to and for her child. We asked that we would have peace about her decision, whatever it was, and we trusted that God’s plan for us was better than anything we could ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
We had prayed together about our adoption on many, many occasions before, but somehow that time was different.
It may seem that way, I suppose.
Because the outcome appears to be different, it may seem that our prayers must have been more eloquent and effective than they had been before, and so God finally answered them.
But God is greater than that.
God has never forgotten us or our prayer to become parents. He heard our prayers before we even knew to pray them (Isaiah 65:24), and has been answering them, one step at a time, all along. He’s also been doing more than we knew to ask, teaching us to trust Him and making us more like Christ.
Our painful journey to parenthood is teaching us to pray “Thy will be done” and really mean it. We’re finally starting to catch on to the fact that His wisdom is perfect (Isaiah 55:8), and His plans are for our good and not to harm us:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
Without our help, in His mysterious, all-knowing, all-powerful way, God has been accomplishing His will while still allowing us to participate through our prayers. He does so for His glory and the strengthening of our faith, making us more like Christ.
Each and every “no” by moms viewing our profile has been a part of the loving act of provision from our Father, leading us to the birth mom who would choose us, and the child we will welcome into our family. In the end, I know that He will have given me so much more than a child to call my own. Every “no” leading up to (what I hope is) the final “yes” has led me on a powerful path of sanctification. The gift of God Himself is the greatest of all.
December feels far, far away. These next three months will mark a new phase of patient, faith-filled waiting as we walk alongside the birth mom who chose us. We are grateful and excited, yet hold loosely to this placement, knowing things still may change. All we can do is love on this amazing woman and trust that God will continue to accomplish His purpose in our lives, to his glory.
Respond
How do you perceive God answering your prayers in ways beyond what you could ask or think? How has this impacted your faith?
