Electronic Encouragement
Our adoption agency moderates a Yahoo forum for all of the parents that are currently in the adoption process or have recently adopted through them. There are most definitely people on the forum that are more popular than others and they tend to contribute a great deal of useful information. I could tell you their screen names, yet have never spoken with them. They carry an almost superstar status on the forum that I find to be most interesting. I have been one of those participants that sit in the background- doing a lot more reading than contributing. When I do manage to post it is always a big deal to get a personal response from the illustrious mega-posters who are quite honestly experts in their own right on all things adoption, family, and travel. The other day as I was packing one of my two humongous suitcases in preparation for my Ethiopia trip I began struggling with the uncertainties of my trip. Here I am packing for a trip that I have no idea of when I will return. I stopped my packing and sat down at my faithful Mac (known in my house as MacDaddy) to put this question out to the adoption forum: How do you deal with the uncertainties, the waiting, and the unknown? Feeling a sense of relief just for asking the question I went back to packing. Within moments, by moments I mean the time it takes for one commercial to start and finish I heard MacDaddy’s new mail alert.
Already I had three responses to my question.
They were from the mega-posters. These are parents of five, ten, fifteen adopted children. They gave good solid answers. They gave reminders of the normalcy of my emotions. They gave hope in that this is all a part of the process.
A few hours later I heard the new mail alert once again. This time the response was from names that I had not seen before- or at least had not logged in my memory as a popular poster.
The first email encouraged me to find some children in my family, through friends, or in my community that I could pour my love into until my son was home. The email challenged me to remember that all children deserve love and that even those with parents can never be filled enough with the love and affirmation of others.
The second email was from a first time parent waiting for her child to come home. She provided this scripture verse:
Psalm 84: 5-7
“Happy are those who are strong in the Lord, who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains! They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.”
In addition to this verse she said that she believes that painful moments are destined to become blessings from the Lord as even though we are not heading to Jerusalem we are on a journey that is pleasing to the Lord.
What a joy to read this words from others just like me- sitting at home waiting and wondering. What an increase in joy to receive messages that were so on track with the heart of Jesus as well.
I appreciate the words of the mega-posters. There is rarely a time when I do not learn a great deal from their wisdom. But, what a pleasant surprise to receive such wisdom from those participants who tend to remain in the background of the forum! Be encouraged today to step up and share your thoughts in the forums that you belong to. It is amazing how much they can mean to the recipient. And, do not fear to share the heart of Jesus with others for this is the only wisdom that will truly be a balm to a nervous spirit.
