How He's Changing My Heart...

It's hard to explain how God has been working on me since we started the adoption process.

I had always thought of myself as a compassionate person before. You know, I donated my used clothes to the Salvation Army, and I felt bad if I drove by a homeless person.

But now, I can't stop thinking about all of the people in the world who don't have access to clean water or enough food or any medical care at all. I find myself praying day and night for children searching for their forever families, kids I've never met and likely never will. I ache when I think of families being torn apart by poverty or disease or war.

I wonder why these things never weighed on me before now. I wonder how I could call myself a Christian all this time and yet sit here in my own little comfortable world, not acknowledging any of this.

But, here's the deal: While I am now acknowledging these needs, I still feel like I'm not DOING anything. Or not doing enough.

And I think this is, in part, where Christians get tripped up. I've heard people say things like, "Well, I can never do enough, so why do anything?" or "I don't have to do 'works' to earn my salvation; it's all about grace" or "Jesus says the poor will always be with us, so I can't fix the problem of poverty" or "But I have to wait on God to tell me what I should be doing, so I don't do something out of His will." In my way of thinking, all reasons why to continue living in my comfortable, "Christian" box of a world. Excuses. Don't you think?

Ok, back to my point. I'm glad I'm thinking differently. Now I need to DO differently. Period.

Already our little one and this journey to him or her is changing me. We are SO excited to (prayerfully) be a blessing to our Ethiopian-born child, but we are already being blessed by him or her and we're likely months away from a referral. What a mighty God we serve!