Women's Conference and Adoption

Danielle, Angie, and I went to see Lysa TerKeurst LIVE in Pella, IA today!!  It was such a wonderful day!  Not only did I get to spend time with my bestie and new-found friend, but we were challenged by God's amazing words spoken through Lysa.  I have been leading these ladies through Lysa's book, Unglued, and it has been a challenging study for all of us.  I tend to show all four of the "unglued" tendencies, in my various relationships- exploding and blaming others, exploding and shaming oneself, stuffing and building barriers, and stuffing and collecting retaliation rocks.  Although not much that Lysa spoke about at today's conference was new information (because we have been going through the book already in the past five weeks), one story she told deeply touched me.

Lysa told the story of her adopted son when he still lived in Libya.  Simply put, she shared how her son only had one meal each day, but was asked one day to stand up and say why he was thankful.  He simply was unable to think of anything to be thankful for, because of the conditions he lived in and the dangers he faced.  Instead of professing a thanksgiving, her son stood up and sang a praise song to God, in the midst of his terrible circumstances.  The next day, the orphanage leader asked another boy to stand up and say what he was thankful for and the young child also couldn't think of anything, so he followed Lysa's son's lead and also sang a praise song to God.  Lysa's son joined in.  This happened each day until all of the boys were all standing singing praises to God; on that day, it just so happened that a person from America was visiting the orphanage and found a way for those beautiful-sounding boys to come to America on a tour to raise money for the orphanage.  The boys did do that tour and Lysa and her husband went to one of their concerts; that's how they met the boys that later became their sons.  Now, Lysa's church and community have adopted dozens of boys from that orphanage, changing the future for them and their country.  All this occured because one young boy sang praise songs to God!  Amazing!! 

Re-reading the story how I speak it doesn't come close to how powerful this story really is.  Lysa's words had a profound impact on me today, especially since I have felt for some time now God tugging at my heart to consider adoption.  You see, I have been praying about it and have even researched it online.  I bought a book about it (that book is on my reading list- see yesterday's post)... I have put a great deal of thought into adoption.  But I haven't acted on what I feel is God's quiet nudge.  Travis is open to adoption.  I am very open to adoption.  So, why haven't I taken the next step?   I make excuses.

I feel inadequate; I don't feel like I'm capable.  We don't have enough money to afford it; adoption could cost us over $20,000.  Our house isn't nice enough; it will be inspected and we will fail and get denied.  I'm too busy; I don't have enough time to devote to another child.  The list goes on and on with all the reasons why I feel like we can't adopt a child. 

Today, it hit me that none of those excuses matter to God.  If I come to God with obedience and a willingness to do as He desires, He will provide all those other things.  With His power, he can make wonderful things happen; I just have to be willing to obey Him.  Wow! 

I'm sitting here on my couch bawling like a baby.  I'm scared and nervous, knowing in my heart what God is calling us to do.  But I'm happy and relieved that I have finally come to accept that God will move mountains if I just obey Him.  Please pray for us.  Pray that Travis and I listen, obey, and move.  Pray that God opens doors for our family.  Pray that the right little person come into our lives at the right time. 

Here I am, willing and ready to listen to God's calling for my life...  Let's see what He has in store...

2012 Book List

 I have been doing fairly well with reading over the past couple of weeks!  I have devoted some time to reading almost every night before bed, right after I do my Bible Study for the day!  Yay!  I'm trying to get better about getting into God's Word and learning from others through their writing. 

• Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey
• The 5 Love Languages of Children
• Nonprofit Leadership in a For-Profit World: Essential Insights From 15 Christian Executives... Need to finish a couple chapters
• Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst... Finishing the last two chapters tonight after I finish this blog post, hopefully! 

Here are some books that are on my "to-read" list and I aim to read them in the next few months:

• Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl by Lysa TerKeurst
• What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa Terkeurst
• The Adoption Decision by Christianson
• Boundaries by Dr. Henry
• A Woman’s Secret to a Balanced Life by Lysa TerKeurst
• Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow
• Am I Messing Up My Kids by Lysa Terkeurst
• Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman
• More Than a Hobby by David Green (Hobby Lobby Founder)
• Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• Let. It. Go. By Karen Ehman
• Point Man by Steve Farrar

Anyways, I just hadn't posted an update about how my reading is coming in awhile and wanted to share with you my new book list!  I'm excited to grow and learn through these books! 

Imperfect Progress

I came across a statement last year that I feel in love with and took it to be part of my personal mission statement and belief about living a Christian life; we either progress or regress.  We never stay where we are.  Life is constantly moving.  We can, however, make a choice as to which directions we take.  We can choose to either move forward (progress) or move backwards (regress). 

Recently, Lysa TerKeurst published the book Unglued:Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions and I fell in love with the idea of it right away.  We as women have such strong emotions.  We cry during commercials, yell at our husbands for the slightest of errors, get impatient with the teenage employee at our favorite fast food restaurant, and take comments too personally and blow the situation out of proportion. 

In her book, Lysa discusses the idea of "imperfect progress," which is just that; making progress despite havin setbacks and slipping now and then.  As long as we are moving forward instead of backwards.  I LOVE this concept!  It doesn't matter how slow you move, but as long as you are moving in the right direction then you are progressing.  That's all we are asked; love Jesus and work at being just like him.  Make imperfect progress towards being Christ-like.  So challenging but so real.. 

That's really what this blog is all about.  Through looking back at past posts, I am able to see progress in my life; financially, as a wife and mom, as a Christian woman.  I am trying to make imperfect progress in so many aspects of my life and this blog allows me to look back on my progression.  Thanks for joining me! 

I would encourage you to pick up a copy of Unglued for yourself and take the imperfect progress challenge!