"No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:37-39
It's been almost five years to the day since we got the call that a certain little 8-year old boy needed a new foster home. We were prepared for the call, we had started the licensing process and met him and his current foster family for the first time a few weeks prior. My husband and I talked it over and prayed about it and, as I was praying, I felt the Holy Spirit nudge my heart with this verse: "whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do to Me" (Matt 25:40). I knew in my heart that Dakota was supposed to come to our home (how he came into our life is a story for another day 😉), so we notified the case worker, and Dakota moved into our home on October 30, 2016.
That day began the long road of fostering - the supervised parenting visits, the doctor's visits, the therapy visits, the unannounced home inspections, the case worker meetings, the trainings, the list goes on. The goal of fostering is always reconciliation with the birth parent. The goal was for this sweet boy to go back to a safe and loving home with his birth mom. He lived every day with the expectation that he was going home, and we had to have multiple conversations explaining why it just wasn't safe for him to do so. It was heartbreaking for him, and for us.
Dakota's half siblings were in different foster homes at that time, and one morning during a parent visit, the other foster moms and I met for coffee. We were six months into our journey and I was so tired, so discouraged, so defeated. I had been certain this is the path God had called us down, but it was so hard. As I sat and talked with the other, more seasoned foster moms, I shared how overwhelmed I was with everything and the truth just kind of slipped out -
"I know this is what God wanted us to do, but I think God made a mistake."
There, I'd finally said out loud what I'd been thinking. Surely God made a mistake. Surely there was a family better equipped for this fostering process. Surely there was a better mom than me somewhere in this county. Surely this wasn't supposed to be so hard.
Once I uttered the words out loud, I knew I had a big problem. In my finite thinking, God wouldn't call me to do a hard thing. If He called me to do something, He would make it easy for me to do. He would give smooth sailing to a sweet family ending, all wrapped up in a pretty, little bow. Reality is much different. Reality is hard. Reality is acknowledging that following God's leading isn't always pretty.
I wish I could tell you that I surrendered my way of thinking right there and that was the end of it, but that's just not the case. I went to God over and over and over again, praying for His wisdom, His grace, His kindness, His mercy. There is nothing like being a foster parent to highlight all of your shortcoming as a parent. I knew if I was going to do what He had called us to do, I needed His guidance every step of the way. I had to daily acknowledge that God brought our family together for a reason and He makes no mistakes.
After two years in foster care, Dakota was adopted into our family in May 2018. We were surrounded by all friends, family, coworkers, church family, and all his 4th grade classmates (class field trip to the courthouse!). More importantly, Dakota accepted Christ as his Savior and was adopted into the family of God that same year. 💙
If you've ever followed God's leading and realized it was so much harder than you could have ever anticipated, I hope to encourage you with these truths from God's Word.
"This God - his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him." - Psalm 18:30
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and thoughts higher than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9
"God is not man, that he should lie, or son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and he will not do it? Or has he spoken, and he will not fulfill it?" - Number 23:19
You may not understand His leading, you may feel defeated and discouraged, as I did - but you can always rest in the promises and the goodness of God. God makes no mistakes.
Page Details
I created this page in my ESV Scripture Journal using Distress Inks as the background, then stamped the rest of the background and title using the following stamp sets: Berry Branch Backgroun, Typewriter Text Background, Typewriter Blocks Alpha, Rebecca Script Alpha, All in All, and Faith Wordfetti Too.
I have a handy little Sizzix Sidekick die machine and have slowly been adding to my die collection. These Mini Tag Dies are perfect for my little machine and for creating teeny tags, such as the That's Love tag in this page.
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