Yesterday's Oprah Show

Yesterday's Oprah show was titled "Fascinating Families." The middle segment of the show featured families from Matthews, NC who had adopted teenagers from Liberia. I had been anticipating this show for awhile, and invited two of my friends over to watch it with me. I'm embarrassed to admit that I cried through the whole segment.

I guess my heart has been in Liberia so much lately. When I first began researching adoption and specifically adoption through Liberia, I read a lot of stories about those families in North Carolina. I had been a fan of Proverbs 31 Ministries for awhile (The lady featured on the show, Lysa, is the president of this ministry) and I would go to their website often and look at the TerKeurst family picture and just pray that someday our family would look like that. Now that we are actually in the process of adoption, seeing that show just reminded me of all God has done for our family. I love how He works.

One of the greatest blessings that I have received from this adoption process so far is seeing the power of prayer. I honestly did not think that Pat's heart would ever be open to adoption. He tells the story himself about how he experienced a "miraculous heart change." His initial reaction to adoption was as he puts it "not just 'no' but 'HECK no!'" Today, he and I are equally in love with our son and are convinced of God's call on our life to adopt from Liberia. God told me to be quiet and pray and let him work, so I did and he faithfully worked for me in Pat's heart. My bible study leader shared a quote one time and I'm going to butcher it right now and I don't know who said it, but it was something like "It is possible to move the heart of man by prayer alone." After watching the miraculous change in Pat's desires, I am convinced that this is true. Watching Oprah yesterday, brought me back to that place where I thought that this was never going to happen and I had just set myself up for more disappointment. Now it is happening and I am so thankful to be able to follow in the footsteps of those faithful families in North Carolina who opened their hearts and homes to the beautiful children of Liberia.

(By the way, I have a link to Proverbs 31 Ministries on the right hand side of this page. I love their daily devotions)