“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God….”                  

Psalm 40:1-4

Our family is in the process of adopting two girls from Ethiopia, Fikirte (fa KEER ta) and Konjit (kone JEET).  I met them last year while working with Visiting Orphans at Kid’s Care Orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and I fell in love with them.  Now our whole family is in love with them, and we are eagerly awaiting the time they will join us here.  During this process, I have often felt as if I am in the muck and the mire, weighted down by the paperwork, the red tape, the wait.  I have cried out, wanting the process to conclude and our girls to be home.

But, this is not my first time in the slimy pit.  I can equivocate multiple occurences in my life to that place.  The instance that first comes to mind, is the night I learned that my mom had collapsed and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.  I remember hanging up the phone and taking two steps forward.  Directly in front of me was my Bible.  I clutched it to my chest and fell to my knees.  I’m not really sure that I verbally said anything, but I know that my heart was crying out.

The mud and the mire on that day was the mourning of my heart at the thought of losing my mom.  But what I felt as I kneeled before my God was His voice slowly pulling me to my feet and allowing me to stand.  I was reminded that my mom was a follower of Christ, that this story could not have a bad ending.

The new song He gave me to sing was that through it all, His name would be praised.  The possibilities were that she was going to heal and continue to do Kingdom work in His name or she was going to pass from this earthly life, receive her eternal reward and through that, His name would be praised.

My mom experienced a cardiac arrest that day, over 12 years ago.  She spent a week in the Cardiac ICU and is now the proud owner of a pacemaker.  Her story has God’s fingerprints all over it, and there are multiple miracles that happened leading up to that day, on that day, and in the days following that I love to share.  But, I’ll save that for another time.  

I know that not every person who cries out to God receives the answer they had hoped for, but I am not sure I was looking for an answer that day.  Perhaps I was simply looking for a rock on which to stand.