On a personal note, today is a very exciting day in the Born household.  Around noon, we will sign the adoption papers for Maria.  Exactly a year ago I wrote these words:

The real issue of life, the bottom line for the Christ-follower, is the answer to this question.  Do I trust God or not?  This is the question of faith. … Do I trust in God’s faithfulness when I’m feeling something else, or to put it in the words of a friend, “When it’s not working for me?”  Well, this is what I have found out regarding faith as I walk through the unknown future with my daughter, Maria, whom my wife and I hope to adopt.  Right now I face a terrible loss – it’s a date on the calendar for next week, the day I am to give her away to her great-aunt … The knowledge of this possibility came to us in November.  Julie and I decided to make this a matter of prayer and have devoted Wednesday afternoons to fasting and praying for this situation.  This decision to devote ourselves to prayer has changed everything – it gives us the right perspective and it takes us to the humble position of our knees, together, as we confess our utter dependence upon our heavenly father. This unites our hearts with one another and opens our eyes to the bigger picture of God’s sovereignty – this is bigger than us and really isn’t ultimately about us.  Prayer makes us hopeful, not in getting our way, but with the felt presence of God working in and through us as we place our trust in Him.

Is it just chance that we get to sign the papers for Maria’s adoption at the same time that we have devoted to prayer for the past year?  Is it a coincidence that we go to court to finalize the adoption a year almost to the day since we were schedule to give her away? I see God’s hand in it.  I am flooded by a sense of his pleasure.  He has proved his faithfulness time and again, and I walk away with a determined confidence in his timing and sovereignty.  (Even now as we have been on the list waiting since September for our next children to adopt.)  I echo the words to an old hymn, “Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him; How I’ve proved him o’er and o’er; Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, o for grace to trust him more.”  I’d like to live my life spotlighting the proof of God’s faithfulness.  Certainly that proof will come through times of terrible loss as well.  But this time is a time of wonderful gain – I gain a daughter for life – Maria Joy Born.  Billy was chatting about his ‘deep thoughts’ before bedtime with Julie the other night.  He said, “Mommy, this means that I’ll get to see Maria when she’s 6 like me.”  She is so beautiful – I just can’t imagine what she will look like as a young lady.  For now, I will devote my time to cultivating her inner-beauty and thriving in the fact that I am her Daddy and will remain so forever.