Good evening friends! I’m extremely excited to celebrate Family Night with you. One blessing that I have personally received through being a member of this church is the blessing of having friends become family. When the Lord saved me in Cleveland TN almost 18 years ago, I never imagined that I would get to be part of a church plant in my hometown.
This evening, I pray that your faith will be strengthened as you hear about how the Lord has been sustaining our family through a particularly difficult, yet good, season.
On Feb 2, 2021, Chris and I were approved to open our home as foster parents. That morning I enjoyed drinking coffee with friends, oblivious to the fact that by that evening someone else’s six week old baby girl would be laid in my arms, and entrusted to my motherly care. The caseworker even indicated that this would likely be a very long placement.
This precious girl had been with us for two days when extreme fear set in. I was attaching to her. I started thinking thoughts such as, ”How will this child, myself, my husband, and my children handle the grief if we ALL form attachments, and then she leaves our home as a toddler?” My faith began to get weak, and my desire to worship the Lord began to dwindle.
But God, in His loving kindness, did not leave me in this state of mind. One evening as I was scrolling Facebook, I read this quote by Elisabeth Elliot.
“We are human, we are ‘selves’, and it takes no effort at all to feel. But worship is not a feeling. Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship ‘in spirit and truth’ never mind the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.”
For years I had desired to study the life of Elisabeth Elliot, and after reading more of her quotes, I ordered the book, “Let Me Be A Woman.” I am grateful that I did!
One night I was reading the book and was deep in thought about baby girl’s future. I’m sure most of you already know, but her name is Harmony. I found solace in these words.
“You and I can be steadied, directed, and held, by the knowledge of where we came from and where we are going. To know that the whole world moves in “Harmony” at God’s bidding, is wonderfully stabilizing.”
I continued to read Elisabeth’s writings, and started listening to her recorded speeches. When I started doubting my ability to handle my lot in life, I remembered that Elisabeth Elliot said,
“Don’t dig up in doubt, what you planted in faith.”
I have a vivid memory of driving to the DCS office to pick baby girl up from a parental visit. That particular day was rough. I told God that I wish I had Elisabeth to call right then. I knew she would have had the perfect words to say to refocus my mind from fear to faith. My radio was set to Moody which has been a favorite of mine for eighteen years, yet until that day, I had never heard them share any of Elisabeth Elliot’s recordings. My faith grew immensely as I heard Elisabeth’s comforting and familiar voice speak words of truth directly to my soul. The title of the message was, not surprisingly, “A Holy Harmony.”
I also vividly remember a day following a court review in March. The judge made a surprising decision in Harmony’s case. I wrote this Elisabeth Elliot quote on a chalkboard in our living room, and by following her advice, I survived the next few weeks.
“Sometimes, life is so hard you can only do the next thing. Whatever the next thing is, just do it. God will meet you there.”
I felt like my life was spinning out of control. We were experiencing multiple trials during this time (many of them not pertaining to our foster journey). We had just exited four of the busiest months of our lives which kept us from having time to truly focus on each individual trial that was coming our way. I experienced two and a half weeks of intense insomnia brought on by the stress. It was during this time that I ordered a devotional written by Elisabeth Elliot titled “Keep a Quiet Heart”. It was in this devotional that I read a prayer of hers and immediately began to pray it for myself.
“Lord, give to me a quiet heart
That does not seek to understand
But confident steps forward in
The darkness guided by your hand.”
Although our family is still in the midst of a variety of trials, we are thankful for the solid, faithful, and biblical leadership of our church, thankful for God’s word that never changes, thankful for the positive relationships that we have built with our foster daughter’s biological family, thankful for the rich relationships that we share with so many in our church community, and we are thankful for friends like Elisabeth Elliot. Our faith is being sustained.
