Blow your Socks Off

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I have never in my life been so blown away...  

Keep in mind we live in Kansas, and I did live in Northwest Oklahoma for a while...so I've experienced wind.

...By God's goodness.  You know in this town, you could probably step inside most people's homes and see something on the wall that says "walk by faith"...."faith.  love.  peace.  joy."... "Do not trust in your own understanding..."  You get the idea, right? 

Well, I thought I did.  I knew what faith was about.  Pray to God for peace.  Pray to God for my needs.  Trust that He loves me and He'll give me what I wants.  I don't ask for too much from Him.  He won't ask too much from me.  But what I've only recently understood is that faith is nothing like that.  Faith is having to rely on God for EVERYTHING.  No exceptions.  Hand it all over, no looking back, lay it all out there, be fully exposed, I have nothing to give...faith.  I have never been to that place, until this adoption.  I have never put myself out there so much that I could do nothing else but...have faith!!

But let me tell you...the minute you do...you are FREE!!  And be prepared to have your socks blown off by God's blessings.  Over and over again God has revealed His presence in this adoption process...He has shown up in everything we have done so far...and He has blessed it!  Beyond anything we could have imagined!  I look back now and realize all the ways that God has desired for me to let go...to let Him lead...to lose control in Him....but I haven't.  And, man have I missed out!  I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I haven't shed a few tears over this realization as of late.   

What have I been doing my whole life?  This is what I could have been experiencing.  So learn from me.  Don't just hang pretty pictures on your wall about living by faith. 
In the words of Nike..."Just do it!" 
And then...hold onto your socks!

Update:  We walked in today to get our fingerprinting appointments (a week early).  The waiting room was filled with people so we realized we were going to have to wait.  Jerad walked up to the window to ask how long the wait would be and she told us to come right in...we were fingerprinted and out of there in less than 20 minutes!  Again, my socks nearly blew off!  See what I mean?  Now we wait for our "Golden Ticket"...the paper that says we are allowed to travel.  Following the arrival of that, we send our paperwork to be apostilled at the Secretary of State's office and then we mail our dossier across the ocean blue.  Then the wait is on for our travel date.  If all continues to go as it is...we should be able to travel in the next 6-8 weeks.  Just typing this makes me happy and scared all at the same time.  We are SO close...yet so far away in fundraising.  We have events planned the next 3 weekends so pray for people's hearts to be softened to our adoption and life we are working to save!