Miracles needed, desperately

It was a cold, snowy day in November when we returned from the cemetery where my sister-in-law had just been buried. I couldn’t describe the mixture of feelings that coursed through my husband and I as we still reeled from the shock of her death, but there was another event on the horizon that brought a mix of anticipation and anxiety. Our daughter and son-in-law were leaving to drive across several states to adopt a baby. They were leaving after the funeral in our car, as we wanted to be sure they had a reliable, roomy vehicle for the trip. The trip was going to take about two days, so we hugged them as they set off to arrive for the planned delivery of their new baby.

Two days later, we received their phone call, saying the baby had been born two days earlier, and he was now under the authority of Child Protection Services (CPS). Next came the pleas with the adoption agency representatives, CPS, and a judge. The birth mother and father appeared at court and signed away their rights. However, the process was going to take longer than a couple of signatures.

After about a week, our son-in-law had to fly home to work. He was self-employed, and he needed to work as others were depending on him to complete their projects. Their little girl was also waiting at home, wondering how long Mommy and Daddy’s trip was going to take. She didn’t know at the time that she was going to be welcoming a baby brother.

While we grandparents took turns caring for our granddaughter, our daughter and son-in-law were experiencing a huge amount of stress and began to wonder if this adoption was meant to be, due to all the problems with state regulations, CPS, lawyers, adoption agencies, and court processes. The birth parents had not followed the original plan as to where the baby was to be born, so the delivering hospital did not have the adoption plan. They only knew that the birth mother had tested positive for certain substances in her body, and they were required to keep the baby. The birth mother was released of her own choice. Days passed with the baby being transferred to the original hospital stated in the birth plan, which made it possible for our daughter to at least spend some time with the baby in the hospital nursery room.

Praying to the God of miracles

Our prayers increased exponentially after the birth plan was hijacked. We asked for prayer through our church, our family, our friends, and even through strangers! That came to be after I heard Christian musician Matthew West talk about his prayer website, Popwe, (https://app.amenprayer.com/popwe), in an online ministry session. I signed up for prayers and told the story of this planned adoption, requesting prayer for our children who had already been through two adoptions, one successful and one unsuccessful. I also requested that notices be sent to me whenever someone prayed for them and the baby.

Once the baby was through any complications from the birth mother’s substance abuse and was released from the hospital, CPS put him into foster care. This was evidently going to take some time. It took a lot of phone calls and help from lawyers and the adoption agencies to arrange things for our daughter to see the baby again. She spent a month in this far-away-from-home state without her immediate family or any friends.

God never runs out of miracles

For those of us at home feeling helpless, it seemed that something would always come up to bring doubt into this difficult adoption plan, and I’d feel myself begin to fail in the faith department. Suddenly, my phone would buzz, and I would see a message that someone–someone I didn’t even know–had prayed for our kids’ adoption situation through Popwe! It immediately brought hope and trust in God to my weary heart. God brought in unexpected miracles at those times when we didn’t even know our daughter was experiencing specific difficulties, and it proved to us that God never runs out of miracles! We would also get messages from friends and family–messages of encouragement and hope. Friends, prayer changes things.

Finally, in December, our son-in-law and their daughter flew out to join our daughter, and within a week they arrived at home with the new baby! While our daughter and son-in-law’s story is much more complicated than I can explain, what my husband and I experienced at home was proof of the miracles of God. Each day that something unsettling was happening several states away, God would show us that the prayers of His people were changing things for good. We learned to be grateful in every circumstance, because all along, God was working in His own way and in His special time.

Meet Mary G. Johnson

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Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.

If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.

Creating Ripples

If you would like to cultivate rhythms in addition to gratitude that will empower you live on mission in your neighborhood, check out Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. This small book will help you make a big impact in your neighborhood as you learn to let missional living flow from the inside out. Get the 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase the book.