Relinquish all to God

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Phil. 4:6)

It is so hard to RELINQUISH anything; money, schedules, dreams, plans, loved ones, the list goes on and on. However, relinquishing the difficult circumstances of life is probably the biggest challenge. I can not count the times I have given something up to God only to find myself worrying over it even minutes later.

A picture was recently shared with me on what it means to let go of something completely. If you were to pour a glass of water into the sand, it would be impossible to take back the water. And the great thing is that you could even pour a bucket of water into the sand and the sand, God, can absorb that as well. All those things that worry, trouble, confuse, confound, hurt me,.....He can absorb.

I need to pour those things out completely before the One Who loves me most and best; Who ALONE can resolve any concern; Who ALONE already has a perfect plan for me AND my troubles; Who ALONE has promised He will never leave me or forsake me.

God is telling us, in Philippians 4:6, to RELINQUISH our concerns to Him: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

I hope to walk the rest of this journey to our sons in China with thanksgiving.

We had some good news on Friday. I awoke in the wee hours of Friday morning. I had had a weird dream and lay in bed to anxious to return to sleep but too fearful of what I might find in my message box if I got out of bed and warmed the computer up. It had only been a day since I had sent my letter to China asking for help to get our boys home. However, there was this aching feeling telling me there was a response waiting for me in my inbox. I lay in bed praying until the alarm went off, quickly kissed my husband on the cheek and slipped through the bedroom door as quietly as possible. I savor my alone time in the morning, however, that morning there was not going to be any alone time. As I closed the door behind me, I looked into the open door of my daughters' room in front of me. My day would begin with the image of my little Chloe sitting on the floor with her legs crossed "reading" her Precious Moments Bible.

How is that for a humbling moment?

Chloe and I scurried downstairs to check my email and NOT to my surprise I had an email from China. Chloe and I ran back upstairs to let BaBa know we had an answer but we neglected to read what it was!!!!

Back downstairs to open and read the email.

We had a positive response. We would receive help from Chloe's native country to bring our boys home. One person in her country would see if he could take it one more step. How wonderful to share that moment with Chloe. The one who made it a possibility for these boys to have a home. Only through her did we know of these boys. Only for her love of them did we seek them out.

So, what does this help mean exactly? It means we still have a long way to go but that the door has not shut for us. We have faced many shut doors up until this point. If we had stopped knocking after the first couple of doors we would not be where we are today. Today the hope is still alive for these boys. It is a glimmer of hope, but isn't that the most beautiful part? I love to see the glimmer of sun around the clouds here in the big skies of Colorado. It makes for the most beautiful picture.

I have been told that God's name would be glorified through these two boys. Greg and I have already seen that. We have had people email us and tell us that through the story of these boys they have renewed their faith and others telling us they have started reading the Bible. God uses the simple and the weak to do His work. It is through those people that His power shines through, often times beginning with only a glimmer.

We are holding onto the glimmer and continue to pray that one day those beautiful shinning faces will not be just a glimmer on the refrigerator door but the full shinning faces of two rough and tumble boys.

We thank you all who take the time to read and pray for our boys. It means so much to hear from you and know that they are being lifted up by people who care. People like my daughter, Chloe, who I found sitting up against the refrigerator with Noah's picture above her head. She had my cell phone out and was typing a letter to Jesus asking Him to please bring Noah and Rhys home. People like a new friend who shared she was fasting for the boys. Can you imagine having a friend like that? Up until this point, I could only imagine. I pray I can be that kind of friend to all I know.

We love our Lord and we trust Him and I thankfully and joyfully walk this path with Him. I relinquish all to Him and can not wait to share how the weaknesses and simplicity of all our "orphans" will magnify His Glory.