God, The Maker of Life

Acts 17:25 -27
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.

Matt used these verses in part of his sermon yesterday morning. He was preaching on the Sanctity of Human Life. I know the recognized day was the week before, but I asked him to wait until yesterday because I was gone last Sunday. ;) When he read those verses, and then the words that he was saying... that God is the maker of life, and God marks all things - that God knows when we are going to be born, when we are going to die, where we are going to live, etc. I read those verses again, and thought about my children and how God gave them to me (to us). As I thought of Madison, Tyler, and Lauren and I read those verses again; I thought of it this way:

"God gave you life...and He determined the time set for you, and the exact place you should live. God did this so that you would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from you."

We are in the middle of painting and decorating the kids rooms. And I think I am going to make a poster with a picture of Madi, Ty, and La and have "my paraphrase" written over it. I want to put this in their rooms as a reminder that GOD gave them life, and GOD chose for them to live here and now with us in OUR family. That He did that so that they would seek Him and reach out for Him. They have all accepted Christ as their Savior and love Him very much!! I want it to also serve as a reminder to them that God is never far from them. God is not far from them when they are scared at night. God is not far from them when they make bad choices and may get sent to their rooms. God is not far from them as they grow up and have harder choices to make. God was not far from them when He created them and chose for them to belong to OUR family. God was not far from Ty and La when they were frozen in a liquid nitrogen tank in an infertilty clinic. He was with them when He worked in the lives of the doctors at that clinic when they chose to give those specific embryos to us. God was not far from Madison when she lived in another person's womb, a womb that didn't offer her all the protection and safety she deserved. God was with Madison when He worked through the Florida Baptist Children's Home to place her in our foster home. He was with her when we adopted her 1 day after my birthday in 2001. God was with them all the time - through the good and the bad. God didn't choose or want Tyler and Lauren to be frozen in time. God didn't want Madison to be exposed to things that were not good for her health while she was growing in the womb. BUT... He WAS with them. And, He was with them when He took them from those bad situations and gave them to Matt and I - who by the way love them and cherish them SO very much :)

I have said for a long time that I truly believe that God creates every child for a specific family, and sometimes He chooses to work through adoption to put the child where He wants them. These verses really spoke to my heart to confirm that. :)

Then this morning during Homeschool, our Bible passage to read was Genesis chapter 1. We ended up having almost a 2 hour discussion. Mostly about their birth stories. It is hard for grown ups to understand adoption, and especially embryo adoption; so it is especially hard for two 7 year olds and an 11 year old to understand all the specifics of it. I explained the "physical" part of embryo adoption, and how I didn't choose for them to be created that way or to be frozen; BUT that daddy and I wanted to adopt embryos and God gave them specifically to us. I explained to Madison that I wish I could have carried her in my womb, but that God chose to give her to me just the way He wanted to; and I love her very much. I told them again that I love Madison every bit as much as Tyler and Lauren. I don't know if they ever question that or not; but I want to make sure that they all know that they are equally loved; that I love all of them more than they will ever know or understand.

I believe with all of my heart that God created Tina for a specific family. I know that He is in control. I am praying that He will work through the people that will make the decision what family she goes to, and that she will be with her God chosen forever family soon. God has already blessed her with a wonderful teacher this year. With all the uncertainty in her life, I am SOOOO thankful that her teacher is also a pastor's wife. Tina says every day that she loves Jesus and she wants Jesus to come see her ;) Or sometimes she talks about wanting to go see Jesus.

One last note... a friend of mine is a hospice nurse, and her patient this past weekend sat up and said "it is time for me to go, it is time for me to leave this earth" and then she died. God is in control. He has a time for us to be born, a time for us to die, a place for us to live, a family for us; and he is in control of all life from the very beginning to the very end. And what does He want? For us to "reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from us".