Being Prepared

Saturday morning as I was praying, once again, as I have so many times in the last two years I prayed for the little girl that God is preparing for us in China. I prayed for her health and safety, for her comfort, and for someone to hold her and love her. I prayed that God would prepare her little heart and mind to become part of our family.

It suddenly dawned on me that it is possible, maybe even likely, that the little girl I was praying for was not even born yet, especially two years ago, and maybe not even today. I started thinking about destiny. In my imagination the child already existed, but maybe not in fact. If something were to occur that caused Becky and me to have to abandon our planned adoption, then I suppose the child in my imagination never would exist.

These kinds of thoughts make me realize how everything is in God’s hands. We can make plans, but unless God wills it, they will never become reality. I believe that a little girl in China does exist that we will adopt, love, and cherish, otherwise why would the Lord give us this desire. If it is His will, then she has existed in His mind long before we ever dreamed of adoption. The Lord told the prophet Jeremiah, “before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.”

Now I wonder, who is it exactly that God is preparing? Is He preparing a little girl in China for us, or has He been preparing us all of these years for that special child that He has known before she was ever conceived?