Christmas is Coming, Prepare Your Heart!!

I know it is a while until Christmas is here but is it ever too early for Christmas in our hearts?

I felt the urge to share with you (does somebody out there need to read this to believe in miracles?) a story I had written a couple of years ago for our church newsletter.

Forget the hot weather. Look outside and see snowflakes and frost in your mind's eye. Just relax and for a few minutes visit with me and let me share with you what really happened in my life.


Merry Christmas!

I attended the Joy Circle meeting at church last month and there was a lot of discussion about the Angel Tree our church would have this year. The memories came flooding back to me of an experience I had twenty seven years ago. I would like to share it with you in the hopes that it will help you remember a Christmas miracle in your life.

My husband and I had decided that we wanted to be foster parents. During our home interview and training it was made very clear to us that these foster children would never be available for adoption. We understood. The fourth child placement in our home was a baby girl only a couple months old. She was very sick and her eyes were swollen shut with infection. She was so dear to us. She had been with us about five months when I was told at work that there was someone from Social Services there to see me. This social worker introduced herself and said that her office had recieved a call from the birth mother of our foster child telling her that God was asking her to have us adopt her baby. The social worker explained to her that the system did not work that way. There were people approved on an adoption list that had waited for many years for a baby. The mother replied that God had made it very clear that only we were to have this child and if not us she would struggle to raise the baby herself. The social worker explained all of this to me and with a very firm voice told me it would never happen. I was in shock that all of this had transpired and I was quiet for a moment. Then with a firm voice and a conviction in my heart, I replied, “Well, I know God and if He has this in His plan there won’t be a thing you or your department can do to stop it.” She looked at me, her whole demeanor changed and she said, “This is off the record, but I have seen God perform a miracle or two in my time with the agency.” She shook my hand and left.

A few months passed and the adoption process was begun. In a year it was complete. Many times I wanted to prod it along, call some people, beg the authorities, seek the mother and tell her to stay strong. Every time that I felt the impulse to ‘make it happen’ I felt God telling me to leave it all alone, that He was in charge.

It was only a couple years after Kati’s adoption was final that I found out about a bit about how God works. (I don’t think our finite minds can ever grasp all of the Infinite). While Kati’s birth mother was pregnant with her, the family’s first name had been given to our church along with the fact that she had two sons and was pregnant with a baby girl. This family was the “angel” I had picked from the tree. I purchased gifts for this family, maternity clothes for the mother and clothes and blankets for the unborn child who was to become my baby girl. The birth mother never knew this connection until I had the opportunity to share it with her years later. God truly works in mysterious ways and I got a tiny glimpse of a Christmas miracle. What a gift, to know that I cared about this baby and her family before she ever came into my life. Today Kati has grown into a lovely 27 year old woman with a daughter of her own and a baby that will be born by Christmas.

God speaks to us, through us, in the quiet moments of our lives and we stand in awe!