Last night I had one of those dreams that was very vivid. I was in Ghana, Africa on a short-term mission and I was somehow helping with adoptions. This is no surprise because I have been doing a lot of research on adoption, both domestic and international. Anyway, in my dream I clearly remember buckling a baby girl in a car seat and riding with her birth mother to bring the baby to her adoptive mother. I remember the little girl's face and I remember holding her and also hugging and talking to her birth mother. I watched as the birth mother placed her baby in the adoptive mother's arms and then later watched the adoptive mother walk away to take the baby home to the U.S. I sobbed in my dream as I watched this. I'm tearing up right now remembering it. I felt so honored to be a part of this incredible gift and miracle. I remember thinking the birth mother was so amazing, strong, and loving to do what she did. I also remember that I stayed there in Ghana and that it wasn't me bringing that baby home as my own daughter. I wished she was mine. I do believe that God speaks through dreams. I have had many powerful dreams - these are so much clearer than others. I woke up and thought about how interesting it was that I was not the mom adopting but the woman helping and serving the children and the birthmothers. I have been so focused on what adoption looks like for our family right now and my husband and I don't have a clear leading at this point. I am not impatient, in fact, I will wait for God's timing with joy and anticipation. But I have felt an urgency for the orphans and I have assumed that means adoption for us right now. But maybe it means doing everything I can to care for orphans, pray for orphans right now and waiting patiently for our own child to adopt, knowing God will lead us and work out the details. I know I haven't figured it all out and that all I can do is listen and obey the call to care for the orphans.
I have done what everyone says not to do - look at pictures of waiting children. I can hardly even look at their faces because it is so overwhelming. A few in particular have stood out to me and I have been lifting them up by name to the Lord - Craig, Mercy, Sandra and Wendy from Ghana, Davina from the U.S., and Wang from China. Pray for these orphans to know Jesus and be brought into loving homes. That they would experience someone laying their hands on them and blessing them as Jesus did. We can all do something to answer the call.
