Foster Care

Since I last posted we have become foster parents.  We are currently fostering our second set of brothers.  These two boys, who I will refer to as Little Man and Baby Boy, have been with us for 8 months.  Life with five kids is never boring, sometimes exhausting, sometimes awe-inspiring and I wouldn't change it for the world:)

I'm back.  I have been focusing my attention on Facebook, but recently I have been getting the urge to blog again.  Lots going on here including two new kiddos means lots to ponder.  So, hopefully, look for more posts in the very near future.

A friend posted this on her blog today...

It was her husband's answer to an anonymous post to her blog in which someone asked how God could let those who believe in Him starve and suffer. I thought it was a very well written response to a tough question. Go here to read it. Thanks, Stefanie, for tackling the tough stuff.

Day 12 - Praise God for Miracles

Today's prayer was about miracles. There is someone at our church who was at the brink of death a couple of years ago. The doctors said they had done all they could do and this person was in a coma and they were going to die. Their family, friends and members of the church went to God on their behalf and a miracle happened. James 5:16 says "the fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much."



Sometimes it is easy to think that miracles were only in the time of the bible, that they don't happen today, but the fact is they happen everyday. Sometimes they are small, like finding the earrings you just knew you lost; and sometimes they are big, like someone surviving what should have been certain death or a child being healed of an infection that looks impossible to heal. We have to keep praying even when we are not aware of the work that God is doing.

Day 11 - Precious Heavenly Father

Today was about praying for healing of a friend.



God has told us if we call upon Him he will answer and show us great and mighty things that we know not of (Jeremiah 33:3). God also tells us that if we have faith, He will answer. The hard part is that He answers our prayers according to His will.



If we pray for healing, God will heal. It may be in Heaven, but He will heal. The hard part of faith is knowing that God's definition of healing and our definition of healing are not always the same thing. We have to trust God even when we don't understand God.



It seems like every day of prayer has reminded me of a song and today was no exception. Today I thought of the old Newsong tune "Trust His Heart", that says, "When you can't trace His hand, trust His heart." God loves us and wants what is best for us and what is best for us is His perfect will. We just have to trust that He has our best interests at heart.

Day 10 - Dearest One

Todays prayer was for someone going through an abusive situation.



When bad things happen, our first response is usually "Why?" or "How could God let this happen to me?" The truth is we may never know why we are going through a trial. God allows us to go through trials sometimes to refine us and make us purer, cleaner and more like him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't hurt for us. We can either dwell on what has happened or give it to God.



So many times we drag around our baggage and our anger towards God and disapointment in God. We are afraid to be honest, but He already knows how we really feel and He loves us anyway. He wants us to bring it all to Him so he can help us deal with all of it.

Day 9 - Healing Broken Marriages

Today's prayer is about healing broken marriages. As a child of divorce myself, this is a topic close to my heart. Marriage is hard and a good marriage is even harder. I really want to model a good marriage for my kids, so that when they grow up and get married themselves, they have a good model to follow, but it is really hard. The very things that attracted me to E can sometimes get on my very last nerve. Ironically, those are the areas we struggle with. It seems there's always one area that makes me say "If only that were different, we'd have smooth sailing." Of course there would always be "one area", but it's tempting to think that if I could just get him to see things my way, he would see that I am right and beg for my forgiveness and we would live happily ever after:) In reality, if you're not working on your marriage, it stumbles off the path and gets lost in the woods.



When E and I had been married about a year, the bloom was falling off the rose. The rosy, easy married life I had pictured was not always the case. It was really taking work and I was disillusioned. I was browsing in a Christian bookstore at the mall in Savannah, Georgia and I found a book called "When Prince Charming Falls Off His Horse" (or something along those lines) that explained that romantic love fades and you're left with a commitment...a promise you have made. Now that we have kids, that commitment is even stronger.



I pray for my marriage and the marriages of everyone in our church and all my friends. I pray that God will make them strong and that they will be good marriages and good models of God's design for marriage.



I pray for those going through separation and divorce. My parents are divorced and have been since I was a toddler. The breakup of a marriage is not always or even usually a mutual decision. I pray God will heal your heart and that you will know you are loved.