3 THINGS GOD TOLD ME ONE SUNDAY

When our children first came home we were all so excited to show them all the goodies we had prepared for them--their new beds with the quilts we'd specially picked out for them, the toy car that winds up and runs on it's own for him, the much-desired barbies for her, the food in the pantry..... You know how that is, the giving of the gifts is more fun than the receiving so often. 

Well it felt like that for me a few Sundays ago at church. It was like Father God was saying, "Beth take a look at this insight, and this beautiful promise, and check this one out too! And there's more!" I want to share with you three things the Lord showed me that morning that spoke of His tender and healing love for me and for my children. It felt to me like He was so excited to show me these things, for He knew they were just what this momma needed to hear. And with each one I sensed God calling me to pray what He was saying into my children. So, I am including a prayer after each description  which I invite you to pray for your child.

Marked by an Encounter of Love

During our prayer meeting we were praying for the children in our church. As we prayed the Lord showed me such a tender picture of His plans for our children. I saw a tree in the forest where lovers would meet. You know the kind of tree I'm talking about, where couples would carve their names in the bark to proclaim their love for each other. 
This was a meeting place of love. 

Just so, I felt the Lord speak to me that He desires such a meeting place with our children. He desires an encounter with each one in such a manner that they will be marked by His love. Life will happen, storms will come and go over the years, but this place of The Encounter of Love in the life of this child will remain evident to any who look, just as the carving on the tree is still visible years later. 

Wonderful God, may each of our children be marked forever by Your tender love for them. We ask You for an encounter of love that will be as an engraving on their spirits, marked as Christ's own forever. 

One will say, I am the Lord’s; and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; and another will write [even brand or tattoo] upon his hand, I am the Lord’s..."(Isaiah 44:5 AMP)

The Sewn Up Heart

Then later during the service a young mother shared something that God had shown her during worship. And again I felt Holy Spirit whisper for me to take note. 

This woman said God showed her a broken heart that had been partially sown up. Contrary to what you would think, God came to that broken heart and began to gently pull out the stitches so that the wound was opened up again. 

And I felt the Lord show me that the hurt place I thought needed to be closed up in order to be made whole may actually need to be exposed, not covered up. Healing and wholeness may come through exposure, through openness. I believe the Lord was speaking to me that it is through letting Father God have access to the wound that healing comes. 

How often do I try to stitch up the wounds of my child in my attempt to make him or her whole? I don't want my parenting to cover up those hurt places in order to avoid exposure. I want to be one who helps my child trust God enough to allow Him access into that most vulnerable place of the wounded heart. 

Father God, I desire to partner with You as you release Your healing power into my child. I want to be like Jesus, saying what You say and doing what You do. Amen.

He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death. (Job 12:22 AMP)

The Glass Wall

This last insight I received that morning was one that felt heavy to me, renewing a passion in me to see a breakthrough for the many adopted children who feel alone and somehow on the outside. 

I saw this sliding glass door. You know, the kind that people run into occasionally because they don't even realize it is there. As Holy Spirit spoke to me about this glass door I felt Him allowing me to feel some of what my children have experienced. 

The door separates, keeping the child outside. When we adopted our children our intent was to welcome them into the fulness of our family, just as Father God welcomes us into the fulness of His kingdom through Jesus. Yet there is so often this invisible barrier, this Orphan Spirit, that effectively separates us from the fullness that is adoption. Sometimes the child forgets that this barrier exists and moves forward to enter into the life of the family, but then runs right into that barrier. It hurts. It says to the child that something is different about him. It speaks the lie that he doesn't belong, he doesn't fit in. 

He can see into the life of the family, into that love that so draws him. He can experience it to a degree, but then the reality of that glass barrier that is this orphan spirit becomes apparent. It wars against the Spirit of Adoption. 

It turns what should be a home into merely a house. 

It turns a family member into a visitor. 

This glass wall is made up of the residue of rejection and it must go in the name of Jesus.

Lord God, I take authority over this orphan spirit that would separate my child from his inheritance of love and acceptance. May the Spirit of Adoption fill my family, shattering that dividing barrier. Let it be Lord God in the Name of Jesus and for His Glory. Amen. 

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.(John 1:12 ESV)