Walking on Water

Waters crashed beneath his feet, but in that moment of trust, Peter didn’t even notice. His eyes were bravely fixed on the one who calms our fears and carries our burdens. Suddenly, distractions over came him, and his eyes were drawn away from Jesus, down to the waves. Fear enveloped him, and he was sinking.

Have you ever felt like Peter? Boldly stepping out in faith, only to momentarily lose sight of Him and scream out, “Wait! What was I thinking? Lord, save me!” as you realize you are standing on water with no boat or support. The hand of Jesus reaches out to catch you, as He says, “‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:31b, NIV)

How quickly we sometimes step out in faith but just as easily forget about Him.

walk-on-water

Adoption is an amazing journey of faith and trust. There are moments that are easy because you clearly see the hand of God, but at the same time, there are decisions to be made that are incredibly difficult or scary. And then are moments in the journey when fear, disappointment, or doubt can creep in and pull your focus away from the Lord. You begin to sink, only to realize you must cry out to Him for help.

Choosing to follow God’s call to adoption was easy in theory. We said, “Yes, Lord! Adoption will be our plan A.” Our hearts leaped with excitement at the thought. We pushed forward, but as the country paperwork phase began, mounds of documents started collecting on my desk, and I began to feel as it I would never get finished. I can honestly say that now, on our third adoption, it doesn’t get any easier.

With each new adoption we step out into uncharted waters, initially excited at what God has in store, but inevitably, at some point, I let the crashing waves distract me and pull focus momentarily away from the One who asked us to water on water in the first place. Questions and impatience creep in trying to pull my focus from Jesus. How do we pick a child? Is this my child? What if God asks you do something CRAZY that you never thought you would do like adopt an 8 year old boy?!

The good news is that even when we let things pull our focus in the wrong direction, God is there ready to grab hold of us and pull us out of the water. Even though we doubt at times and our faith may waiver, He will forgive us and help us to bravely push on. Hopefully, we gain a little more faith before the next wave hits us. With each adoption, while I have been distracted at times, I can look back and remember how His timing is always perfect and His plan far exceeds my finite imagination.

So when God asks us to travel into uncharted waters for Him, step out bravely in faith knowing and remembering all that He has done for us and how everything we do should bring glory to His name. He is faithful. He will not forsake you and will be there to carry you.

“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,’
‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”
declares the Lord.
(Isaiah 55:8-9, NIV)

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Suzanne Meledeo
Suzanne Meledeo

After struggling with infertility for 5 years, God led Suzanne and her husband Adam to His Plan A for their lives—adoption! Their 5 year old daughter came into their lives in 2011 from the Fujian Province of China. Their 10 year old son joined the family in January of 2013 from Shanghai, and they are traveling to China this May to bring home their newest daughter from the Hunan Province. Suzanne works as a Pilates instructor and teacher trainer while homeschooling their children and working as a part of the WAGI leadership team. You can follow their adoption journey and life on their blog, Surpassing Greatness.

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We’re building the nest this month!

Head right on over HERE to find out more and learn about the 40+ businesses that support adoption and the work of The Sparrow Fund!

It’s nest building time again!

There’s a whole lot that The Sparrow Fund does nowadays to serve foster and adoptive families. We started in 2011 simply giving grants to families for the specific purpose of preadoption support, counsel, and medical reviews. But, we’ve grown a lot since then, responding to needs and walking in faith. Now, The Sparrow Fund not only gives grants but also provides training events and an annual marriage retreat and leads teams to serve at an orphanage in China.

But, those things cannot happen without funding; we’ve gotta build the nest. As you can imagine, building the nest isn’t an independent task; it takes a lot of people to build that nest so that we can help others as they build theirs through this thing called adoption.

All the businesses linked up below have joined us by making a really big commitment to donate 10% of their total sales during the month of May to The Sparrow Fund so that we can continue to serve adoptive families in a significant way.

Visit their sites, shop with purpose, and make that 10% something crazy.

Jewelry Design

Art and Design

Home

Clothing & Accessories

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Special Gifts & Services

Sponsors for Building the Nest

To get the nest started…

Sparrow Sponsor

Norman L. Graham, Inc.

Norman L. Graham, Inc. is a premier builder of custom homes and additions in South Central Pennsylvania. From design to construction, every Norman L. Graham project is built with care and careful attention to detail. What better partner to build the nest than a company who is all about nest building.

Pearl Sponsor

Mervin Zimmerman Heating, Plumbing, & Air Conditioning

Merle Zimmerman Inc. has been serving customers as a family-owned business since 1968. The retail store and showroom near Lititz, PA, The Bath Barn, is a place to come to get questions answered, receive personal service, and be inspired by modern bathroom designs to make your dream nest a reality.

Rice Law Firm

Neal Rice became an attorney because he loves to help people. Being an attorney gives him the chance to do that every day. He counts it a privilege to walk alongside his clients as they journey through life including as they grow their family via adoption and care for their nest going forward.

Other Sponsors

Hey, it’s not too late to join the effort here and support adoption, the work of The Sparrow Fund, and allow us to tell the world that you do. Simply contact Wanda at The Sparrow Fund to learn about how you can be added to this post and future posts as part of Build the Nest 2015.

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Phoenixville PA 19460
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