Are we ever really ready for children in our life? I mean, many of us as young or even older couples, as a single person, or at a certain stage in our journey, conclude that “Now is the time for a child. I have space in my life, room in my heart and my house – now is the time.” It isn’t always so simple.
After my husband and I had been married about three years, I thought maybe we should have a child. I was in my early 40s and not getting any younger, and it seemed that life would be perfect if a little addition would come along. So, we began the journey of adoption. In the beginning it seemed quite straight forward – we were adopting internationally and the pathway was spelled out. Complete the paperwork, have a home study, complete more paperwork, pay the fees, get your passport and Visa and, boom, you have a beautiful new daughter in your home. We had carefully planned a room in our home and had prayerfully created room in our lives and hearts – but what we had not anticipated was the wait. And oh, what a wait it was. What began as a few weeks and then months, stretched to years as the foreign government that oversaw adoption procedures began to drag their feet and complicate our perfect plan. Then as the deadline came and went and paperwork expired, we had to file new paperwork, have addendums to our home studies, and pay new fees for background checks and processing costs.
Though we never lost sight of our goal – bringing home the most perfect child to our family – we did lose sight of the idea that it wasn’t just about being prepared to be parents, or being financially prepared, or having the right space. It was even more important for us to be prepared for God to work in our lives. “Prepare Him room” is not just a physical concept, but a spiritual idea of preparing room in our heart for God to carry out His plan for our life. In the case of our child – this meant waiting. For over three years we waited to be matched with our daughter: our perfectly selected, ‘perfect fit for our family’ child. And though we earnestly prayed for our wait to be over, thankfully, God had His own timeline. Any other day, or week, or month could have meant we would have been matched with a different child – an unimaginable thought now, for we see how perfectly she fits with us.
I wonder how Mary felt when she learned that she would have a baby and that this child she carried was the Christ child? Was she prepared? Had she longed for a child and readied herself and her home for a baby? Then how did she feel when it was time to have her baby and there was no room at the Inn and she was relegated to a stable to birth Jesus? Something tells me that she might not have been physically prepared with the perfect space or the perfect forethought in how this child would change her life and change the world, but I do believe that God prepared her heart.
Lori Hall, Executive Director of Missions
