promised land

I want to start this post by saying the Lord has not "promised" Andy and me a successful adoption. He has not even promised us children. However, we strongly feel led down this path and are moving forward in great expectation. We believe this is what He has for us.

Several days ago I was reading in Deuteronomy, which I've really been enjoying, and was struck by a verse. If you've spent any time in the Bible, you'll notice that the same passage can hit you differently at different times in your life (part of the miracle of God's word). This one really got my attention and I'm convinced the Lord was speaking to me. It jumped off the page.

10 The land you are entering to take up ownership isn't like Egypt, the land you left, where you had to plant your own seed and water it yourselves as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are about to cross the river and take for your own is a land of mountains and valleys; it drinks water that rains from the sky. 12 It's a land that God, your God, personally tends - he's the gardener - he alone keeps his eye on it all year long.
Deuteronomy 11:10-12 (The Message)

Before last March, our attempt to build a family felt like Egypt. It was hard. It was fruitless. And just plain emotionally exhausting. Adoption has always, always, always been our hearts. But we had a different plan as to how and when we would get there. When God finally got our attention last March and told us it was time to begin searching for our Chinese daughter, things began to just make sense. I feel as though we, like the Israelites in this passage, are finally about to head into our promised land. It's not like the land we left. Sure, it will be a land of mountains and valleys, but it's a land where God is the gardener - NOT us. And that is a land I much prefer to the one we try to make for ourselves. His ways are always better.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)