God Always Has More In Store

A lot has been going on these last few days. Life seems a bit crazier than usual anyway, as the end of another school year get closer and closer. I have been so busy at work, and Adam is coming into what will be his busiest season of the year, as well. So with all of that going on, add adoption madness to the mix, and you end up with two very busy Knotts!


I will start with the thing that feels like a big accomplishment. We have ALL of our interview dates set for our home study. Thank you, Lord! There is more to the home study than just the interviews, but I feel such a strong sense of relief at having everything on the calendar; it can be so hard to orchestrate schedules, so I feel like this is a huge step forward. We are still working on our homework, and we will be going to get our fingerprints done soon. 


On Tuesday night we had the wonderful opportunity to go back to our community group at Jim and Betty's house to talk about God's calling for adoption on our lives and share about some of the things we will have going on over the next several weeks regarding the adoption. I will be very honest here...we truly thought we were just going to visit and give a general synopsis of what God is doing in our lives through adoption and share how people could help. 


But the Lord (as usual) had bigger plans for us that night. We started off by sharing how God called us to adoption (read the whole story here) and then talked about our fundraising efforts for this summer with the yard sale and the t-shirts. After that, we asked if anyone had questions. This is where God really began to move. Through answering people's questions we were able to share so much about how the Lord has been working in our lives and changing our hearts. Talking about the journey we have been on over the last few years really opened my eyes to my true need to fully rely on God and His sovereignty. But the Lord did not stop there. 


Isaiah 55:10-11 tells us that, "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish,  so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."


We saw this evidenced on Tuesday night. As we were talking, I noticed a dear sister in Christ paying particular attention. Now, we are not gifted speakers, so I knew right away that the Lord was up to something. It was then that she asked us to talk about the time we spent waiting between our call to adopt and the actual beginning of the process. In doing this, she blessed (and challenged) me with the opportunity to share with the group, very honestly, about the trials and difficulties of waiting on the Lord's timing to start a family. You see, I thought I had a perfect plan for our future, but I was wrong. God is the one with the perfect plan; not me. That was a hard reality for me to face. And so, I was able to share this with our community group and explain that while waiting was SO hard, we are now beyond grateful that we are aligned with God's timing. We were able to stay a little while afterwards, and God blessed Adam and me with the chance to talk in greater detail with this dear sister and her husband, who are now in the position that we were in when we first received the call to adopt. They are in a season of waiting. It is a tough place to be, but it is easier when we know that we are not alone. We stayed and talked for a while, and I am looking forward to continuing our conversation soon. So how does this relate to Isaiah 55? While we were talking with the whole group, we were sharing scriptures that the Lord has brought before us throughout the various stages of this process (His Word went out), and as a result, He touched the lives of this sweet couple by encouraging them to continue walking the path He has laid out before them (not returning empty). Oh, how sweet it is to be a part of God's plan!  


We are coming up on a busy few months with interviews in June and the first week of July, the yard sale on June 23 and t-shirt sales ending June 9, plus seminars, homework, fingerprints and so on. We know it will be busy, but we are so excited about everything that is coming our way. Please pray that we will stay focused on whatever it is that God places in front of us. We appreciate your prayers and support so much! You are God's blessing to us during this crazy season! 


"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans." Proverbs 16:3


Love, 
Baylor