Let me start off by giving you a little bit of a background on this amazing God thing. A few months ago, one of my dearest friends came to me, telling me of this brilliant idea that her daughter Madeline had. God had laid upon her daughter's heart an idea to raise money for the orphan by selling handmade bracelets, and brownies, and donating the proceeds to to the cause of the orphan. What a great idea, right?! Let me mention to you that Madeline is 10 years old, AND she herself was an orphan. Her goal was to raise one hundred dollars, and donate it to her sweet cause. Because her mother Diane, is one of my closest friends, I knew that she would support her sweet daughter in anyway she could. For the next three months, they made these...
And began taking personal orders for custom colors, and thus began "The Orphan Company." Oh how my heart leapt for this sweet little girl's heart, filled with ZEAL for the orphan and the call of the Gospel! About two weeks into the birth of The Orphan Company, I was approached by Madeline at church, and she ever so boldly announced to me, "Ms.Erin! I have decided that the money I earn from the sales of my bracelets and brownies, I want to donate to your family to help bring home Asa & Ember." I completely lost it. Because at that moment in time, I felt like saying "are you sure?!" "surely there is a more worthy family?" Until, God said, "DON'T YOU DARE, ERIN! You would be stealing away HER blessing, and YOU will miss YOUR chance to SEE ME move in the land of the living!" So I humbly accepted her sweet offer, and watched her skip away with her gallon sized, Ziploc bag, filled with handmade bracelets, a smile from ear to ear, and her sweet goal of raising 100 dollars for MY babies.
Today, we met for lunch to celebrate Madeline's 10 year Gotcha Day, and on HER Gotcha Day, The CEO of The Orphan Company, presented (by way of tricky-ness) to The Harding Family, this....
Inside of the Chinese take-out box, was nearly $400!!! FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS!!! Did you hear me?! Okay, and get this...The Orphan Company donated the same amount to another family who is leaving in two weeks for China!!! What started out as asking God to raise 100 dollars for one family, turned into blessing TWO families with close to 400! That is GOD's economy! And, I got to witness exactly what the scripture says in Ephesians 3:20 {NLT} " Now ALL GLORY to God, WHO IS ABLE, through HIS mighty power at WORK within us, to ACCOMPLISH INFINITELY more than we might ASK or THINK." I was just awestruck. This was all birthed within the heart of a 10 year old orphan who has been REDEEMED through adoption. This is what it is all about folks. AND, our Lord, knew all of this from the beginning of time. He orchestrated our blessing, and HER blessing. We have been grafted into a family that only God's hands could create, and I get to SEE it! Psalm 27:13 {NLT} " Yet, I am confident I WILL SEE the LORD's GOODNESS while I am HERE in the land of the living." It NEVER comes back empty. His WORD always holds true. Always. I am learning and learning that if you CLING to the promises of The Lord, you WILL witness them. When I first read Psalm 68:6, and it says that GOD places the lonely in FAMILIES, I myself CLUNG to that promise for myself, even before He called us to adopt. And, let me testify to it. HE has placed US in a Family. A most special family. It is one filled with believers, who will be our family here on earth, and when we go home to be with our Lord and Savior. God places His children in ETERNAL families. He has woven our lives with people who are so dear to me, that I wish I could boast about choosing! But, if I could, HE would not get the Glory! I could have never chosen THIS PLACE, THIS CHURCH, THESE PEOPLE! Never. Ever! But, this girl's heart is overflowing with humility and thankfulness tonight for one sweet girl and her obedience to a call. Thank You Orphan Company. You and your family mean more to us than you will EVER know in this lifetime. You are the example of what it means in Matthew 6:20-21. Storing up for yourself treasure IN HEAVEN.
