"" Life A Bit Sweeter: Stop Comparing Your Journey!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Stop Comparing Your Journey!

I think God is in heaven scratching His head and wondering, when will this child of mine ever get the lesson??? Well.....maybe He's not actually scratching His head but He sure ought to!

No matter how many times I discover that our adoption process is not the same as anyone else, I seem to falter because I keep hitting that same rock. So...here's the deal. We went for fingerprinting appointments on September 3rd. Many couples whose blog or facebook status I have read or have talked to in the DC area, have received their clearance in about 9, 10, or 11 days of their appointment. So of course, I was banking that by September 13th or 14th, we'd surely have our clearance, right????? Wrong! We're at day 17. In fact, the postman just left our mailbox with the bills but no government notices. (laughing at myself)

In the past week, I've called the Immigration Office several times and sent a couple of e-mails as I was instructed.  All to receive no follow-up 'within 2 business days' as the initial operator told me. Not even a routine thank you for your e-mail. We are processing your application. This has frustrated me. It has angered me. It has caused me to worry that something is wrong with our clearance. Yep, I'll even admit it, this morning I cried as I wondered why does every step of our journey seem to be so much more difficult than other families. After I brushed myself off and dried the tears, I was able to gain better perspective in reading these words from the blog of We Are Grafted In as she shared the lesson she gleaned in waiting after observing the growth of the rose bushes in her home garden:

This past weekend the Husband and I worked for hours in our garden: pruning, weeding, even widening one of our flower beds. I spent quite some time puttering with my roses. We have several rose bushes, but the ones most people notice are the two largest. The first sits in the front yard, along the walkway leading to our front door. It blooms with gorgeous, fragrant red roses. The bush in our backyard next to the herb garden blooms with smaller, pale peach and less fragrant roses. 

While I worked with these two plants, I remembered something my friend Lizard once called to my attention.  If you look closely, you’ll see there exist less obvious differences between our two rose bushes. And, if you grab hold of a stem from each plant, you will learn of their differences painfully.
Our red rose bush sports the most wicked thorns I’ve ever personally handled. Our peach rose bush? It hardly contains any thorns at all. I can cut this bush back without even bothering to wear gardening gloves. 

Lizard, a former florist, once told me that you can predict how large the blooms will be by looking at the thorns . . . the larger the thorns, the larger the roses.

The larger the thorns, the larger the roses.

The larger the bumps in the road, the larger the blessings.

Wow, Selah.  I must believe that your life story and ours is going to be one beautiful rose bush when God is finished with us!

As for me:  God, I trust you.  I have seen how you have delivered every single paper in this process.  I have seen your faithfulness throughout my life.  I believe You are for me, my family, and Selah.  I believe that Your Will will come to pass.  I believe that you have called me worthy to walk in this process.  I believe that You are in control and that you have set everything in order and in Your timing.  I believe that You can move mountains.  I believe that You are building our testimony as You have written so many beautiful chapters in our life story already.  I believe that this entire thing is more about You than it is about me so please decrease my will so that Your Will will be magnified and accepted in my heart. 

4 comments:

Angela said...

Love this post.... Just like you said It's going to be one beautiful rose bush when God is done!

Meliski said...

Tears tears! You are always bringing me to tears! Don't ever stop trusting in God and believing in His promises. Selah could still be in her mommy's tummy, or not even on this earth yet. But, when she comes and when she needs you, God will place you in her path at the perfect time.

Michelle said...

Angela & Melissa: You all are spot on with your comments! Thanks so much.

Michelle said...

ha! Of course I'm in your head! LOL!
I totally feel you. We're not quite ready to submit our dossier yet. There's a little matter of $7700. (smile). Trusting God with that too. We're trying to do our part so that preparation and favor coincide.

Okay...I'm heading over to your blog now to see what's been up with you guys! Thanks for hanging out over here with me!

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