Have you ever found yourself in a place where you know you are supposed to move forward but you have no idea how? It’s as though you are literally Moses and there’s this huge body of water right smack dab in front of you and God’s saying “Well, go on!”
I can look back at my life and pinpoint a handful of those Red Sea moments. Those moments in my life where the mountain in front of me was so big that there was no seeing around it for even a glimpse of the beauty that was to come. I remember so vividly on August 23, 2007, crying out to the Lord that night to heal my daughter’s heart completely…for Him to perform a miraculous work in my womb. I began that prayer begging and pleading with God…but I ended it by giving her back to Him. I vowed that night that whatever happened, I knew that ultimately she belonged to Him. I went from a prayer of desperation to a prayer of peace. He slowly began to part The Red Sea that night and guide us through the roaring waters in what was surely a rocky but peace-filled journey.
Going back to that night, I have to be honest that there was something else heavy on my heart. I knew that God would take care of His child and that as the Giver of Life, He was already knitting her together fearfully and wonderfully. The only other concern that I had was money. We were already making tremendous sacrifices to live off of one income feeling led so strongly for me to be in the home with our children. When the cardiologist had mentioned the medical care that would be required, I felt hopeless. I had no idea how we were going to afford even our co-payments and deductibles at that time…much less all the other necessary expenses that would come. One by one, friends offered to help us without even a whisper of asking. A friend of Scott’s helped set up a bank account with their family’s gift to us so that anything given would be accounted for separately in a fund just for Annabelle. We received even more donations over the next months into my pregnancy…gift cards…property donated for while we were living near the hospital…and so much more. God was mobilizing His people, His church, His body.
When I look back to just over five years ago, I’m reminded of barely the mustard seed of faith that I had going into what was surely our greatest time of need for our family at that point. I’m also filled with hope that not only did we face the medical expenses of open heart surgery, another surgery to place her feeding tube, five weeks in the hospital, home health care, medications that exceeded financially anything that I even knew was possible and so much more…but we had every single need met. After the Lord took Annabelle home, there was still about $500 left over. The money in that account for Annabelle didn’t belong to us…it belonged to God. So, we used that money to begin Annabelle Baskets. Nearly 1500 families later, God is still blessing others tremendously through it. And, as I reflect on what He has done…I am in awe.
He has proven His faithfulness time and time and time again. He’s placed us at The Red Sea before and He provided a safe way through. We are depending on Him to do that once again.
We will be holding fundraisers, finding all sorts of things to sell, and living as frugally as we have to to bring our daughter home. We have found a wonderful organization that allows adopting families to receive tax deductible donations and I’ll include that link at the bottom of this post if you are so led. We know that the cost is great…it’s been what has held us back the most so far. But so much more than that, we serve a Mighty and Powerful God who knows no limits and who already paid the price with His own Son’s blood. The true cost of bringing another one of His children home is priceless.
So…here we are again…standing at The Red Sea…rod in hand and nothing but trust in God…waiting for Him to part the waters and lead us across…
Will you please pray for us…for God to roll back the waters and make a way? For each step of this long, paperwork pregnancy to be as seamless as possible? For our daughter on the other side of this world? For her to know as she waits lonely in a crib that she is loved by so many already? For Glory to be revealed to those who join at our sides and walk through this God-0rdained journey with us…and who one day soon will see His hope radiating through this precious child they are welcoming into the Kingdom of God?
Thank you, sweet friends, thank you…
https://www.adopttogether.org/thebutcherfamily/
*All donations made through the above link are tax deductible.
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