My spiritual memoir, But the Greatest of These is Love, has been out for over six months now. I am encouraged by the responses of the readers and thankful for those who have contacted me to share their reactions to my faith journey with God through adoption. I appreciate the cards, emails, and calls from friends. I have been surprised by the messages from complete strangers:
"We have lived such parallel lives . . . I adopted my two daughters from Russia, my second one also in April of 2002. I felt like I was sitting with you on the plane at Dulles!"
"I have always felt a nudge to adopt."
"Your story has made me question what I might have missed by not "listening" to God."
I even received a phone call from an apologetic gentleman who thought he might be out of line for using my home phone. I was, however, thrilled to hear from him, especially when he said my book was "phenomenal!" He used that word to describe my little narrative! And people I have never met have blogged about my book, and written reviews on Amazon! I am humbled by this attention. I am also amused by the common description "honest" used in many of the correspondences, as if I could be anything but truthful when I am writing about my experiences with God. He is the main Character who knows this story better than I do. I could hardly make it up, especially by making myself look less like the self-centered mother I was, who wanted no part of God's up-close-and-personal invitation to join Him in taking care of the least of these, in my case, an orphan. Another common adjective used in describing my book is "powerful." How could I have given this book "power" apart from God? It is impossible.
My fondest hope is that you will read But the Greatest of These is Love and be encouraged that God's will for our lives is infinitely richer than the safe lives we can plan for ourselves. The biggest obstacle to action is fear, and fear is always the enemy. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT) All profits go to Orphan Care Resources, an organization that trains Christians in Russia and Ukraine to step out of fear and into faith to care for and adopt the orphaned children of their countries.
Please feel free to contact me on my home phone at 301-829-nine-zero-zero-four. Leave a message and I will get back to you. Everyone has a story. I would love to hear yours. Find me on Facebook to read some of the public posts about my book and see photos from my journey. I would appreciate your "like"s and comments.
Over the past ten years when I have told people our youngest son was adopted from Russia at the age of seven, their eyebrows go up. People seem intrigued by this information, and they have questions: What made us consider adoption, and why did we adopt an older boy from Russia? Did we consider the numerous candidates in the foster system?
When I respond that I didn’t choose an older boy from Russia, God chose him for me, the eyebrows go up again, but the eyes look anywhere except at me. I am thankful that I do not have to squirm under the scrutinizing gaze of cynicism coming at me from Cyberspace. I know how crazy it sounds! I am learning to answer the disembodied words from strangers. And what I am learning is that we were not the only ones who have had this mystical experience of feeling like God was drawing us toward adoption, that God was the Ultimate matchmaker, lining our family up with a perfect fit for a child who was without a family, that adopting was something we were "supposed to do."
There are the skeptics, of course, but strangers have messaged me to say that they too are members of the "secret society of 'called' adoptive moms," a label I use in the book to describe how it felt. First against my knowledge, and later against my will, I felt God was selecting me to be the mother of one of His lost and forgotten children. So why did God chose Russia and Roma? Of course I do not know the full answer, but I suspect part of it is because Roma fits so well into our family. He kids like us, his personality is so similar to ours, we understand each other on a higher level, and I am a strong-willed mother to a hard-headed boy! My older son said, when Roma came, that, until he could think of Roma as a brother, he would consider him an “exchange student from God.” Rearing a child sent from God is a duty not to be taken lightly! Another reason, perhaps more important in God's economy, is that during this experience, we have learned to trust that God knows what we need better than we do. God wants total surrender and obedience.
The reward for our obedience, albeit reluctant and whiny on my part, included cup-running-over joy and blessings!
