The Livingston's are Adopting!!

It all started with the story of a 23 year old young woman who traded in her comfortable life as an American teenager at the age of 19 and moved to Uganda. Since then she has become a mother to 14 girls and daily feeds and cares for over a thousand Ugandan children . God brought Katie Davis' story to me a couple months ago to transform my heart, literally to break my heart and the wall that had built between God and me for the past year and a half. A wall that stemmed from the suffering I watched my mother endure through her battle with cancer. I was witness to the grueling road of stage four cancer and watched my mother who had been so young, vibrant, and full of life fade into a woman I hardly recognized because of the devastation of chemo-therapy.

I was wrestling with the problem of suffering. The question I had was simple – “Why?” Why was God so silent when I cried out night after night as I watched her suffer? It was not that I struggled with Gods sovereignty. I truly believed that God has numbered our days and that if this was my mom’s time to go home I could accept it. But, why was He so silent in the midst of the darkest nights of suffering? Was He the type of God who would remain silent in our darkest hour? As my mother went home to Him I was left to wrestle through the after effects of all I had witnessed of her suffering. Slowly but surely over time there seemed to be a wall growing between my God and me. It was a wall of my own making to be sure, but a wall nonetheless. I struggled to pray, and to read my Bible. Yet even in the middle of that if I really stopped and listened I could still hear God calling out to me, through a song, through my wonderful husband, through the promptings of His Spirit who dwells in me.

Enter in the blog of Katie Davis - a young woman I don't know who lives half a world away. She has put aside her comfort, her desires, and her hopes and dreams to take up the cross of Christ. She is giving her life away so that more may know Him and that He may be glorified through her life. As I read her story God revealed to me that all who truly follow Him are called to join in His suffering. The nights I spent by my mother’s bedside as she was crying out in pain and as I was crying out in desperation, He was not distant. It was His tears I was crying. He also was familiar with suffering and it was His heart I felt for her. He was not silent. He was there the whole time loving her thru me. I got to be His hands and feet. I got to share in His suffering. I got a chance to die to myself and let Him live. My broken heart was really His. What I realized from reading this young woman's blog is that we as Christians are not exempt from having a broken heart. In fact our hearts will break over and over for the things that break Gods heart.

I mentioned before that Katie had become a mother to 14 girls. One of those girls is no longer in her home. She had to let go of one of her sweet girls, release her and trust in the Lords sovereignty. I can't even imagine how her heart must break. But when we follow Christ we are not guaranteed an easy road that is safe. It is a road filled with risk and danger and it is going to cost us something. In fact it should cost us our very life. We are called to daily die to ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him into the hard places.

You may be asking yourself what does this have to do with the Livingston's adopting. Let me explain. My husband Robert has wanted to adopt for years and I have always been the one to find reason after reason why this is not the right time, or why we probably couldn't handle more kids etc... What I finally realized through this journey is I was afraid to risk loving! I was afraid of getting my heart broken. I was afraid of the cost (and by that I don't mean monetary). Through the life of a 23 year old woman in Uganda God broke my heart for what breaks His heart! God challenged me to follow Him into the hard places and risk loving even when it may break my heart. So, friends please pray for us as we follow His call.

Let me share with you where we are at in the process. We had been praying that God would open a door and show us where He desired for us to adopt from. We didn't know if that would be locally through our foster care system or internationally from someplace like China or Uganda. We prayed for God to open a door and we started to seek out information. As we waited we were asked to pray for another couple that was presented with an opportunity to adopt a baby boy from Ghana. My friend knew we were praying about adopting and she encouraged us to consider Ghana. We weren't even aware that international adoption from Ghana was possible. Robert spent some time years ago in Ghana training pastors and had always hoped to be able to go back. We prayed and started to make contact with a pastor in Ghana who runs an orphanage in Accra with his wife. Also we connected with a wonderful couple in Knoxville who is working with this pastor. We began to see a door opening! After several conversations and more prayer we were presented with several sibling sets and individual children that needed families and asked to pray that God would show us if any of these children were to become Livingston's. We also asked the couple in Knoxville and the pastor and his wife to pray, along with several of our friends. After praying we felt led to a specific sibling set. We called and talked with everyone involved and it was confirmed through them that this sweet brother and sister were to come and be a part of our family!!! So we have begun the process to bring them home, and couldn't be more excited! I will write another post later sharing more of where we are in the process and more about our kids! Please be praying for us. There is a mountain of paperwork and a ton of funds to raise to be able to bring them home. We know that this will be an incredible journey that we hope God uses to not only bring home our children but also to change all of us. So stay tuned, we invite you to take this journey with us and pray that God would also break your hearts for the things that break His. If you want to read the story of Katie Davis you can click on the Amazima button on this blog.