Do Not Lose Hope!

I woke up today with a heavy heart for all the adoptive parents still waiting for their children to come home. For the ones that just started the process & the ones that have been it much too long & their children should already be home. Please know that I continue to pray for you & your children.

Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my plea!
Answer me because you are faithful & righteous.
Do not put your servant on trial, for no one is innocent before you.
My enemy has chased me. He has knocked me to the ground
& forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave.
I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.
I remember the days of old.
I ponder all your great works & think about what you have done.
I lift my hands to you in prayer.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.
Come quickly, Lord, & answer me, for my depression deepens.
Do not turn away from me, or I will die.
Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.
Rescue me from my enemies, Lord; I run to you to hide me.
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.
For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life.
Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.
In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies & destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant.
Psalm 143 NLT

Like David, many of you are losing hope, & are caught in paralyzing fear & deep depression. And like you, I've been there. The wait for our children to come home is long...and very hard. There are days when you don't even want to get out of bed...but you have to. Every day is a gift from God...even the days that don't feel like it. It's not wrong to express your heaviness of heart & your frustration. Take it to the Lord...the one who cares more about you than anyone else. He does hear your cries...and he catches your tears in his hand.

My footnotes from the Life Application Study Bible say this: At times we feel caught in deepening depression, & we are unable to pull ourselves out. At those times we can come to the Lord &, like David, express our true feelings. Then we will find help as we remember his works, reach out to him in prayer, trust him, & seek to do his will. David's prayer was to be taught to do God's will, not his own. A prayer for guidance is self-centered if it does not recognize God's power to redirect our lives. Asking God to restructure our priorities awakens our minds & stirs our will.

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior & my God." Psalm 42:11

"Be strong & take heart, all you hope in the Lord." Psalm 31:24

"Praise be to the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good & not for disaster, to give you a future & a hope." Jeremiah 29:11