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Fulfilling your plan
I was recently e-mailed by another mama, who was also given more than she thought she could handle, but has been blessed through the trials on this journey she found herself on. Hearing from other mamas about the blessings along with the burdens of carrying for a severely handicapped child help encourage me and remind me to keep my eyes on the Lord.
Your spirituality grows in ways you can’t even imagine when God decides to stretch you in ways you didn’t think were possible and takes you way out of your comfort zone. Believe it or not, adopting 4 was still within my comfort zone. If everything had gone as planned, I would have been fine. Much busier, but fine. Normal still seemed possible, but these added trials, one more child with a shortened life span who needs so much one on one care, Evie being so little and delayed from her malnutrition, Lainey’s autistic-like behavior, took my footing away for a moment.
When you have so much, you often tend to believe you can provide for all things on your own. You forget to thank God for everything. You forget where all your provisions come from. We take so much for granted. We believe it is because we work hard that we have things. Most of the time, it’s not because we work harder than others. In reality, we just won the luck of the draw because we were allowed to live during this day and age and in the country we live in. When these special circumstances arise, you realize even more how much you took for granted. You realize it is only with God’s help that you can make it through.
I wanted to share a thought I had the other day at Shuang Shuang’s orphanage. There were approximately 13 babies in the infant room. There was one crib which contained a very severely brain injured child who was about 4 years old. This child was only able to lie there, he could move his hands a little, and I’m not sure how much he could even see or hear. Dan examined this child for them because they were hoping there would be something that they could do for him. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done.
From our earthly view, this child’s life is sad and to be pitied, but when I think about it from heaven’s viewpoint, I see a child who is fulfilling God’s plan. Not that God caused this to happen, but that this child could still fulfill the plan that God had for him. God has known through all of time that this child would be where he is right now. God has always known when and if a family would come forward. God has always known the lives this child’s life would touch. This child will most likely never lie or cheat, or break a promise. He will never take the Lord’s name in vain or lust after his neighbor’s wife. He will not be greedy and spend his life always wanting more, striving for joy that seems elusive.
Yes, it is sad that he has no family, and is so terribly disabled. But he can still fulfill his life’s purpose while on this earth. A person who fulfills their purpose perfectly without much sin? Well, that is almost unheard of. Those people have great rewards in heaven. This child will be rewarded in ways that we can only dream of. Because he is trying to gain fame or notoriety. He isn’t trying to accomplish things by the world’s standards. This child will one day hear those words, “well done, good and faithful servant.”
Our time on earth is fleeting. It is nothing compared to eternity. If you’ve never seen Francis Chan’s video on life here on earth as compared to heaven, I highly recommend watching it. (It’s the you-tube video where he is holding a rope.) That along with his book “Crazy Love” will change the way you look at your life here on earth.
Life can make absolutely no sense. Life can be painful. Life can be harder than you ever imagined, but there are so many blessings even in the burdens. Joy can be found all around you. It’s not your circumstances that make you joyful, it comes from the Father. The things of this world will never make you happy.
“I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11-13
Those words were written by Paul while he was in prison. Obviously, it’s not about things or circumstances.
If you feel really comfortable with your life and never get stretched with much of anything, you have to ask yourself if you are really following God’s lead. God uses tests to help us grow closer to Him. Do you want true joy? Do you want a life with meaning? Do you feel like you might be missing out? Well, ask and He will show you the way. Don’t be afraid of something the world may call a burden because God uses those things to bless us in amazing ways.