Today a mother is kissing her 16 year old daughter. She will give her a hug, smile and place her on a plane to fly halfway across the world.
She won’t see her again for the next ten months.
She can only talk to her daughter for about 30 min–every other week.
She has never met the people who will be caring for her daughter. She has never seen where her daughter will live. She knows nothing and yet is willing to give everything.
Why?
Supreme Love
Her sacrifice will give her daughter an advantage beyond measure–a chance to live in the “Land of Opportunity.”
An opportunity to live with us.
Let me turn back the clock a week.
Cris and I are driving home from shooting a wedding in Midland. As we drive, we talk about this coming school year–our hopes and dreams for our family, our daughter and our business.
You see, we never really planned on being a family of three. Coming from big families, we always thought there would be more. Somehow, three never seemed complete. A part of me always believed that when the time was right, God would bring our next child to us.
As we walked in the door, Cris’ phone rang. People were coming over for Life Group in a matter of minutes, and as I shot him the, “why are you answering the phone, there are people coming over and stuff to do look,” he slipped out onto the back porch.
A bit later, he came back.
“That was a call from some lady. She wants us to participate in some government program and let a teenager from Serbia who is interested in photography come and live with us for the next 10 months.”
Later we discovered she was literally calling photographers down the phone book.
It was an emergency placement and we had less than 24 hours to decide.
“I really feel the Lord is telling us to let Nina come a live with us,” our 10 year old stated after praying for all of 1 second. (The reality of sharing a bathroom hasn’t set in yet.)
After praying (for longer that 1 second), we concurred.
An almost paralyzing fear hit me:
We are being entrusted with someone that does not belong to us.
Then, the Lord spoke a quiet word–you already are entrusted with someone who does not belong to you, for you are mine.
He has acted in Supreme Love.
Rom 8:16 states, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
Then, according to 2 Tim 1:14, as God’s children, a good deposit has been entrusted to us.
To entrust means, “to commit to another with confidence.”
You see, we are not our own. We are the Lord’s and He has committed (with confidence) us back to ourselves for care.
I have been working like crazy trying to prepare to be the best surrogate parent for Nina–because I have been entrusted with her care.
However, sometimes I wonder if my own spirit sometimes feels like an orphaned child. Is it getting the care it needs or am I tirelessly working to care for others and forgetting that the spirit within me needs rest, tending and focused care?
Perhaps I should work with equal zeal to care for the spirit within me–for it has been entrusted to me by the One Most High–who does top the US and Serbian government.
So, this year, in between seeing us at The Edge parent meetings, you may see me just sitting one my back porch resting and reading–tending the spirit within.
And for the mom who is kissing her daughter today, rest assured. The Lord can use anything (even the yellow pages) to work out His plans. Nina will be loved.
Nina--Our new 16 year old "baby"
P.S., If you are a CHS parent, we really need to talk. This is a new adventure for us.
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