If you've read Shelly's first post, you know that we had been on quite a journey from 2001 to 2006. Seeing someone you love get diagnosed with a debilatating disease and then slowly fade into complete blindness was heart wrenching, to say the least.
So many times, I prayed that God would let me take the burden instead of Shelly. The years of blindness for Shelly were challenging for me as well in emotional and practical ways. I quickly became painfully aware of how much work my wife did at home.... everything from household chores to balancing the checkbook, grocery shopping, cooking, etc., etc. Now, for the first time in our marriage, many of those tasks fell to me to accomplish each day. It was a struggle at first, but through the help of our church family and our friends, we began to adjust to our new lifestyle. God was seeing us through this storm....
Then, in 2006, Shelly casually mentioned some perceived improvement in her vision. I was skeptical at first, not wanting to believe for fear of being disappointed. Then, I remember one Saturday morning in early 2006, I was sleeping in on a Saturday morning (as I am often want to do), when Shelly came into the doorway of our bedroom and exclaimed, "Steve! It's 8:30 in the morning!" Taking this as a slightly annoying hint to get out of bed, I replied that I was getting up soon. But Shelly quickly countered, "No, you don't understand..... I can SEE that it's 8:30 in the morning!" as she stared excitedly at the clock 15 feet across the room from where she was standing. That's when it really hit me...... Shelly's vision was indeed getting better. Praise God!
The culmination of what we believe to be a miraculous healing occurred when she received her driver's license in 2006 after surrendering it 4 years earlier. Tears of joy flowed as we celebrated God's healing and His awesome blessing on our lives. Let me tell you from firsthand experience..... it's humbling to be the subject of a miracle. It left both Shelly and I asking ourselves what we were supposed to do with this huge blessing that God had given.
At that time, I was thinking that maybe God wanted us to have another child. So, I approached Shelly with the idea. When I told her that I was thinking that maybe God wanted us to have another child, she abosolutely floored me when she said, "I do too! Except, I think God's calling us to adopt an orphan!"
What!???
Shelly went on to explain what God had been doing in her life for the last year or so.... how He gave began to give her this ache in her heart for orphaned children. How she, in a Sarah-like manner, thought God's suggestion of adopting seemed silly to a then-blind mother. She shared how the feeling kept getting stronger and stronger, despite her efforts to rationalize it away....
Then she hit me with a real haymaker, "God has given us an awesome gift. I'm absolutely convinced we're supposed to do something big with this gift. I think he wants us to take this gift and adopt an orphaned child."
After I figuratively got up off the floor, I mustered a smile and agreed to pray about it....
So many times, I prayed that God would let me take the burden instead of Shelly. The years of blindness for Shelly were challenging for me as well in emotional and practical ways. I quickly became painfully aware of how much work my wife did at home.... everything from household chores to balancing the checkbook, grocery shopping, cooking, etc., etc. Now, for the first time in our marriage, many of those tasks fell to me to accomplish each day. It was a struggle at first, but through the help of our church family and our friends, we began to adjust to our new lifestyle. God was seeing us through this storm....
Then, in 2006, Shelly casually mentioned some perceived improvement in her vision. I was skeptical at first, not wanting to believe for fear of being disappointed. Then, I remember one Saturday morning in early 2006, I was sleeping in on a Saturday morning (as I am often want to do), when Shelly came into the doorway of our bedroom and exclaimed, "Steve! It's 8:30 in the morning!" Taking this as a slightly annoying hint to get out of bed, I replied that I was getting up soon. But Shelly quickly countered, "No, you don't understand..... I can SEE that it's 8:30 in the morning!" as she stared excitedly at the clock 15 feet across the room from where she was standing. That's when it really hit me...... Shelly's vision was indeed getting better. Praise God!
The culmination of what we believe to be a miraculous healing occurred when she received her driver's license in 2006 after surrendering it 4 years earlier. Tears of joy flowed as we celebrated God's healing and His awesome blessing on our lives. Let me tell you from firsthand experience..... it's humbling to be the subject of a miracle. It left both Shelly and I asking ourselves what we were supposed to do with this huge blessing that God had given.
At that time, I was thinking that maybe God wanted us to have another child. So, I approached Shelly with the idea. When I told her that I was thinking that maybe God wanted us to have another child, she abosolutely floored me when she said, "I do too! Except, I think God's calling us to adopt an orphan!"
What!???
Shelly went on to explain what God had been doing in her life for the last year or so.... how He gave began to give her this ache in her heart for orphaned children. How she, in a Sarah-like manner, thought God's suggestion of adopting seemed silly to a then-blind mother. She shared how the feeling kept getting stronger and stronger, despite her efforts to rationalize it away....
Then she hit me with a real haymaker, "God has given us an awesome gift. I'm absolutely convinced we're supposed to do something big with this gift. I think he wants us to take this gift and adopt an orphaned child."
After I figuratively got up off the floor, I mustered a smile and agreed to pray about it....
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