Children and Challenges

In my last post I told you about the "It's a God Thing" stories I hope to post on some Sundays. (Click here to read the post) This is the very first one.  One of my dearest friends shared a breakthrough she had with her adopted daughter recently.  It's been a rough go but she had a glimpse of hope.  She gave me permission to share the story with you.

At the beginning of the year, I asked the Lord for a year of miracles. I was so discouraged about our adopted daughter. It had been 4+ years for us, and things still weren't going so great. There have been no big, spectacular changes, but little by little there have been little changes--a little softening, a change in attitude, a little more gratitude, little more joy in being part of the family. Just this week my daughter and I were having a conversation about a girl who started going to our church just over a year ago. This year she is in my daughter's classroom at her elementary school. Just a few weeks ago, the little girl's parents joined our church and we heard her parents' salvation story. The dad came from a Christian home, but he was not saved. His parents started coming to our church and bringing his 2 little girls with them. The girls' grandmother got cancer and died. His wife, mother of little girls, and he were arguing one day after that about how to get to Heaven. Even though he wasn't saved, he had heard the truth and to "prove his point," he quoted to her the Bible verses that lead to salvation.--The mom got saved right then! The dad still wasn't saved and didn't come to church for a while, but he did get saved and now comes to church, too. Anyway, our daughter tries to be the little girl's friend, and I think they are friends most of the time, but our daughter tells me a little bit about the other girl's behavior. I encourage her to be kind and understanding. I told her yesterday, "You know, her parents haven't been saved very long. She may have had a very rough life before her parents were saved.--You understand that, right? You had a couple of very rough years the first of your life. You came to us when you were 3. She's had to deal with it for probably about 7 years." Cassie thought and said, "Yea, I think I'm pretty lucky."--Okay, I think "blessed" would be a better word, but I'll take it!

Wow! Thank you, Lord. It is truly the year of miracles. I'm sorry I doubted. I know there are challenges ahead, but thank you for the encouragement.