The title says it all……….Jade’s going to Africa! We received a “yes” today from her birth mom,
Lacey, for her to move to Africa with us.
For those following along that may not know how big of a deal this is,
let me share with you some background to our story.
When Josh and I were married, he already had two children,
one of them being Jade. Although she is “legally”
my step-daughter I don’t refer to her as that because I received her into my
life as my own daughter. That doesn’t
mean there hasn’t been bumps in the road, but God has used this situation in my
life to teach me what it means to love unconditionally no matter the
circumstance. It hasn’t been easy
raising a child when both parental sides have different living styles and
beliefs. However, the Lord has used our
blended family situation to teach us about love, trust, unity and many other
things. When Jade was 7-years old she
began living with us primarily, but it was a huge legal battle to make that
happen. God began speaking to Jade about
missions shortly before we went to Africa 2 years ago. God showed her she was going to feed the poor
in Africa and Asia. A year after getting
back from Africa, Josh and I took a trip to Micronesia thinking we might
possibly move there, but we didn’t get permission from Lacey to take Jade and
Jade wasn’t even at peace about moving overseas at that time either. This is when Josh and I began to think that
maybe we wouldn’t be moving overseas until Jade graduated.
However, as you’ve read in previous posts, God’s been
working on our hearts for roughly the past year to continue pursuing what He’s
placed on our hearts to do no matter the cost.
Before applying for long-term missions with Iris Ministries, we spoke to
Lacey about the direction God was leading our family. At first she said Jade could go if she wanted
and then she said she couldn’t. She has
pretty much refused to talk about it since then, even after Jade shared her
heart with her in a personal letter that was mailed to her. Jade has no doubt in her mind that she is to
go with us, and God has given her the peace and strength she needs this time
around to leave her other family behind.
We are so proud of the decisions she is making to follow the Lord with
all of her heart no matter the cost!
This past week Josh tried calling Lacey to talk about Africa
more, as we were needing to move forward with certain decisions, but we couldn’t
get through to her as her service had been shut off. I even tried texting her a few days later, in
hopes her phone had been turned back on, to talk about Jade’s summer schedule
but I never received a response. Out of
the blue this morning, Josh received a text from Lacey saying that she’ll be
using a different number for now and that she can only text not speak. She had no idea that we’d been trying to get
ahold of her this week. Josh told her that
we’re making decisions about Africa and need to know what she thinks. He asked if she got Jade’s letter. Her response was, “Yeah, I am letting her go.” Praise God, praise God!! Talk about no struggle whatsoever! God faithfully answered our prayers! We weren’t even expecting an answer, just
more conversation about it, so we are in complete awe of God’s goodness and
preparing/speaking to hearts behind the scenes.
God has given us both the word “effortless” and that He is going to ask us
to do things that may seem impossible but are quite effortless, in a sense, as
He prepares the way. We are thankful to Lacey for trusting us to take Jade and for her selfless act to release Jade in our care in the years to come, as we know the decision was not an easy one. God wants you to
face the “giants” in your life because He’s got something amazing planned on
the other side!!
Bless you all as you
begin to face those giants and move
the mountains in your
own life with great faith!
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