For Such a Time as This...

Esther 4:14

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this."

We all have inherent personality traits.  I am convinced that these are planted in us for God's glory and His glory alone. His providential timing as evidenced in the Book of Esther, is always right.

 

10  years ago(even 5 years ago)...my strongest set of personality traits were being tenacious....pushy....goal-oriented....won't-take-no-for-an-answer. These were traits that got me in trouble. These were traits that made me look like a lost soul(which I was). These were traits that made me look like the world. They were traits that helped me in business(to an extent).  They helped me get what I wanted at the time. I spent a lot of time refining them-for the wrong reasons.

 

Then He saved me. The Holy Spirit came to live in me....and it all changed.

 

These same traits helped me through this adoption process. I am convinced they were planted in me years ago in my mother's womb to help me through this season of our lives. The difference is-I was able with the help and direction of the Holy Spirit, to use them with His guidance and for His glory. If you have ever been through an international adoption process...you know the amount of obstacles that can come up-the bureaucracy-the amount of phone calls and emails to push things through and keep your file out of a pile. You also owe it to the children you are adopting to make sure that ethics are in the forefront with how they came in to the care of the orphanage, etc. This takes hours of research about your agency, the orphanage and asking of a lot of hard questions. You cannot feel defeated...you cannot give up.  You cannot get your feelings hurt. I mean we were fighting for the future of two children on the other side of the planet. The difficulty I experienced at first had to do with reconciling wont-take-no-for-an-answer with humility and meekness.  Guess what folks....they CAN coexist. There is a such a misperception of what meekness and humility means. Paul describes to us how the traits can coexist in 2 Corinthians 10 where he discussed meekness, but he also lets us know that he was capable of being bold if necessary.  The humility that was watered and fertilized came about in the form of my submitting to the Lord...NOT a lost world. The Lord was in control of the situation-not us. The meekness that developed was a result of the fact that although I was provoked endlessly during this process, I needed to submit to the Lord  and ask for His direction and not be confrontational. My need to be in control was turned over to Him. In return He reminded me that He was in control-I was in His will- and I had no reason to worry. And let me tell you-when it is soooo obvious that you are in the middle of God's will...there is a peace in all of the actions necessary to see it to the end. He directs your paths. By no means do I have this humility and meekness thing totally accomplished(I can hear my family giggling when they read this-and also my real estate clients)...they are fruits that will need constant fertilizing in my life with the Word until the day I die. But what is so amazing is to see AGAIN and AGAIN how the Lord can use what could be used for evil in this world for His good and His glory. I mean who else can take a control-freak personality and tweek and twist it to actually work for His glory....

 

 

And just to drive home the point-the Lord has let me see personality traits in the rest of my family that are quite clear were planted there for such a time as this. Hannah's nurturing spirit and her "mothering" personality have been HUGE in the first weeks of these kids being home. Crosson's and Tony's patience have been out of this world. The fact that Tony himself was adopted cannot be overlooked....surely the Lord has used this part of his story to plant another level of compassion in him that exceeds my understanding. These traits and details that have taken a lifetime to develop are being used for His glory. I simply cannot imagine going through this process several years ago when I first felt the tug to adopt-before I was saved.  The Lord had work to do...and His timing is perfect. I am grateful that He has revealed this to me in hindsight.

 

I posted on facebook the other day that it was so cool to see how God doesn't leave out any details when he writes an adoption story. He has it all covered. He has made provision, He has prepared hearts and personalities, He has placed all of us in the same family on purpose with a purpose and He has equipped us for it.  Let me never forget-even when the going gets tough-that He wrote this story. Before the beginning of time He wrote it, for such a time as this. I am trusting in the Author of Creation.

Kindehafty Easter 9.28.2003

Hagos Easter 4.20.2002