Hurry Up...and Wait

Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

Psalm 27:14

It's been a while since I've updated the blog.  Time flies when you're having fun...and waiting.  From enjoying a summer of fun (and check-ups), to the 2012-2013 school year being in full swing.  From completing our first Home Study Visit with His House...to still waiting for the whole Foster-to-Adoptive Licensing process to be completed.  Still waiting for the second Home Study Visit.  Still waiting for all of the necessary paperwork to be completed.  Still waiting.  Throw in a very pregnant and very sick licensing coordinator, some unexpected employment "snags", and that can lead to some pretty impatient and anxious waiting going on around here!  I mean, I thought we had heard pretty clearly from the Lord that He was calling us to grow our family this way.  So how am I to "be strong, and let my heart take courage" as I wait for the Lord, as the Scripture quoted at the onset states?  Well, I think one way is to look at the verse right before this one which exclaims, "I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!"  So I guess one way to be strong and courageous is to look upon the Lord and His goodness.  Look back at His goodness and faithfulness in my life, to then fuel my vision to look forward with courage and confidence, as I wait on the Lord and His plan for my life - wherever His plan leads, however long it takes.  Hebrews 11:1 tells me that "... faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." So I shall continue to be sure of my hope in Christ, of my conviction of things that I can't see, because eternity awaits in the unseen.  Faith is being SURE of that hope.  And when I'm not sure of that hope and am wavering in my faith, Psalm 27:7 reminds me - "Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!"  And amazingly, yet wonderfully, THAT gives me strength and courage!  

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  2 Corinthians 4:16-18