God is Waiting

We've waited to have a family for almost 3 1/2 years. We've been waiting to bring home our babies for 20+ months. We were on the actual wait list for almost 10 months. Addise's been waiting for parents in the orphanage for over half her life. Judah's been waiting - fully in transition as a 2 year old - for 4 months.

Not long ago, though, I realized in a whole new way that God is also waiting. He's waiting for Judah and Addise to come into a family. He's waiting for 147 million orphans - all of which he knows by name, knows the number of hairs on their head, knows the number of tears they've cried - to be welcomed into forever families. He's waiting for his people to respond to the call to experience true religion by caring for orphans [James 1:27]. He's waiting to set the lonely into families [Psalm 68:6]. He's waiting for us to follow his lead to not leave children as orphans, but call them "sons" and "daughters" [John 14]. God is waiting for us, too.

God is waiting for our hearts to be healed by heartache, disappointment, loss, and death. God is waiting to restore and redeem and renew that which has been stolen and taken. God is waiting for us to respond to him in the midst of that to experience his new life.

And because I've cried so many time while I've waited, I'm entirely confident that God's cried too. He's cried because he's waiting for children to be loved, welcomed in his name [Matthew 18:5]. He understands my pain, my longing to have my children in my arms. He understands because their his children first. We love Judah and Addise because he's first loved us [1 John 4:19].
This is yet another way that I've grown to understand the heart of God by choosing to adopt. I am immeasurably grateful to know God more through the divine experience of adoption. I am forever changed.