It’s taken ten months to get here. No, eleven.
I’ve lost count.

Next Sunday, May 24th we will board a Lufthansa plane bound for Poland, our four biological children in tow, to bond, legally adopt, and bring home our four beautiful kids waiting right now for us to come back.

I have so many things rolling through my head right now. So many thoughts I eventually want to write about, and probably will, on this blog. I’ve learned so much already. My faith has grown. I understand Father God in a way I never had considered. I am not the same person I once was. Neither is my wife. Neither are my children. This has changed everything.

It would be easy to assume this last trip is the end of this journey. Like we will land in America sometime in July and the end has come. I suppose this is partially true. But then again, it’s not true at all. Sure, the end of this portion of the journey is upon us. We have a few more hurdles to leap. A judge to contend with. EIGHT children in an unfamiliar place, eating unfamiliar things, surrounded by an unfamiliar culture for six weeks. I’m certain it will be unforgettable. But it will end. We will get through court. We will get visas and passports, we will survive US customs and immigration, and we will come home. It will end.

Actually, I think it’s more of a beginning than an end. I preach to my congregation often a spiritual truth I believe applies here as well. Whatever you’re going through, whatever God is working in your life isn’t for now. Oh it most assuredly feels like it is and if the situation is difficult, you probably are looking forward to the end. The problem is, God doesn’t have a finite view of time like we do. Our lives aren’t laid out on some divine timeline to God. He sees our lives woven IN time; THROUGH time; BEFORE & AFTER time – at least our time. What’s happening in your life today is probably to help you get through something or help someone else through something in a decade.

Joseph was sold into slavery so he could eventually save all of Israel.
David was hunted by a tyrant so he could learn to trust in the Lord to govern Israel.
Paul was put in prison so 2000 years later we could read the letters he wrote.
John was isolated on Patmos so God could reveal to him the final message to the church.
Jesus was crucified for the billions who would one day, eventually, believe.

It’s always about something else. It’s always a beginning. The end of our something is often the beginning of God unfolding His plan through our lives. You can’t lead someone where you haven’t been. You can’t walk with someone down a pathway unfamiliar and be of benefit. I think the fact we cannot see all the “why” answers to our situation is incredibly frustrating. It makes us want to give up sometimes, especially when the whole being faithful thing gets impossible. But if we could just for a moment see….if we could get a glimpse of what God was ultimately doing….if we could have faith in what we cannot see or understand, I think we’d see beauty.

Have you ever had the “aha” moment with God? Where all of the sudden all the cosmos align and you totally understand the plan and ways of the Lord in your life? They don’t come often, but when they do, it’s beautiful. When we finally see God has a plan; He hasn’t abandoned us; He’s working things for OUR good and HIS purposes, we can have peace, whether in the end or the beginning.

So our new beginning happens next week. In my mind I have expectations and thoughts on how this whole thing will go. But truthfully, we don’t know. We do know God has led us here. His hand has been evident from the very first google search. He’s proven His will over and over and over again. What will God use these last eleven months for in our future or someone else’s? No idea. But I’m excited to find out!

Maybe you find yourself at an end or even a beginning of something God is orchestrating (which is EVERYTHING). Trust Him…..that’s really all I can encourage you with. If you feel you’re in the throws of the fight of your life and you just can’t wait for it to end….trust Him. If you’re at the end of a trial or even a victory, look for the new beginning God is getting ready to start in you. Every end is a beginning.

And God’s beginnings are beautiful.