Selah. The Hebrew word used primarily in the Book of Psalms & also three times in the third chapter of the Book of Habakkuk. The definition of the word has come to universally mean theologically, to pause, to reflect, and to give praise or say "Amen!" I have been doing lots and lots of research regarding this particular word in Scripture because The Lord made it very clear to me that it was to be her name.
When I laid eyes on her face, she took my breath away. She literally caused me to "pause", "reflect", and to say "Amen!" She will be our daughter. Her story is so great y'all. A story that only Our Lord God could write. Won't you listen with ears to hear?
"Give THANKS to The Lord, and PROCLAIM His greatness. Let the WHOLE WORLD know what HE has done. Sing to Him; YES SING HIS PRAISES. TELL everyone about His WONDERFUL deeds." 1 Chronicles 16:8-9 (NLT)
On March 5th, 2014 we were presented her file. I know that that date is very significant, because we were in the midst of celebrating our son Asa's birthday from across the pond! Asa turned three, and Todd and I received a text from our Social Worker, asking if she could conference call us in around 4pm. She said that she had to ask some questions about our documents we had submitted for Asa. She phoned us at 4pm sharp, and quickly began to let us know that she did not in fact need to go over any documents, but that she had just gotten approval from the entire staff of our Agency, to present us with a file she had put on hold for us days ago. Wait? What? "Erin, didn't you write a blog post about how your Agency was NOT going to allow you to go forward with adopting a second child?" WHY yes I did! I did not feel another blog post was really necessary for the news we received about three weeks following our No. Our Agency, through prayer and seeking the best thing for our family and Asa, decided that because we were already approved for 2 in our home study and our I-800a paperwork, they would still consider us candidates to adopt two children concurrently. Honestly, I did not want to get my hopes up, because I didn't want to be disappointed again. So I stayed quiet about it for the most part. Only a few people knew that we were still being considered, and it came with a BUNCH of stipulations. The child would have to be chosen by Lifeline. The child had to be approved by every one of the higher ups at the Agency. Meaning in laymen's terms, it HAD to be the PERFECT child, the PERFECT FILE, and the PERFECT fit. No pressure or anything. But, basically, GOD had to move every single mountain, and let me tell you, I KNEW HE was going to do it!! I kept saying to Todd, to every one of my prayer warriors, HE is going to do it y'all! God just does NOT close a door, and then crack it open again to dangle the possibility in our faces. Revelation 3:7 "What HE opens NO ONE can close, and what He closes NO ONE can open." Months went by. We still had no idea if we were going to be bringing home one, or two. We knew we were going for Asa, and we were OKAY with that. We had resigned ourselves to get it through our heads that we could be taking two trips to China. Until.... We got her file. The waves of emotions that echoed through our home were fantastic! Ian later said that his Daddy was "sobbing so many tears it was like it was raining inside." The rest of the night was pure bliss! We literally were on cloud nine. It felt just as glorious as it had felt when we said yes to Asa. That night before bed, Todd and I prayed and thanked The Lord for just being amazing, and answering lots and lots of prayers. Prayers uttered from the mouth of me, Todd, Taryn & Ian. After we were finished praying, I said to Todd, "Man, I wish that I had a scripture I could cling to for her, just like I had gotten for Asa." Because this Momma knows that my Lord NEVER contradicts His Word. I know I can always take it to the bank. Rely on it when I get afraid of the unknown. I have had to do that several times with Asa, but I KNOW that I KNOW, he is my son, because God said so. I just wanted that same thing for her. Something that my heart knew she was meant for us, God-picked.
Please hear me when I tell you that stuff like that is IMPORTANT to Him, folks. Because the very next morning, God blessed me durning my quiet time. He gave me my scripture to cling to.
Isaiah 61:7 {NLT} "Instead of shame and dishonor, YOU will enjoy a DOUBLE share of honor. YOU will possess a DOUBLE portion of prosperity in your land, and EVERLASTING JOY will be YOURS."
And just like that I knew my Selah Karis was meant to be our daughter. The fact that The Lord of all the earth, would take such care to have me know HIS giant plan? I mean it is almost too much for my brain to comprehend. Later on that morning, our Social Worker texted me a photo of our entire agency praying for our family. The entire China staff praying and cheering for our family. You guys it was almost too much!
Because this story is quite long, but so needs to be told, please take this moment to grab a drink, and or a snack. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Still cruising through Day 2, about carpool time. I texted Emily to let her know that I was so consumed with thankfulness and gratitude, the scripture from Psalm 8:4 "What are mere mortals that that You should think about them, human beings that You should care for them?" Kept popping into my head. I just HAD to tell someone. But she texted me back this scripture, sort of like God prompting her to tell me, "No, HOW about this one?" It is King David's prayer of Thanksgiving. I quickly pulled it up on my phone and just sat there is complete awe, because The Word is ALIVE people. That a person over 2000 years ago, felt EXACTLY the way I was feeling in 2014 sitting in the carpool lane. I mean....just read for yourself.
2 Samuel 7:18-22 {NLT} " Then King David went in and sat before The Lord and prayed, "Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and WHAT is MY FAMILY that YOU have brought ME this far? And now, Sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, You speak of giving Your servant a LASTING DYNASTY! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign Lord? What more can I say to You? You KNOW what Your servant is REALLY LIKE, Sovereign Lord. Because of YOUR PROMISE and according to YOUR WILL, You have done ALL these great things and have made them known to your servant. How GREAT You are, O Sovereign Lord! There is NO ONE LIKE YOU. We have never even heard of another God like You!
The rest of that chapter is really, really good too! Please read it!! Alrighty, we now pause for this seriously necessary cuteness.
Now, let me fast forward to why I decided to write this blog today of all days. I wrote it down because I NEEDED to remember. I needed to PAUSE, to REFLECT, and to say AMEN! Today was a very lazy Saturday around the Haus of Harding. We were really just enjoying the gorgeous day, the date is 3-15-14, and as I was cleaning up the house something inside of me thought it would be so cool to look up on Facebook, what I was doing/thinking on Selah's birthday. Her given birthday is February 12th, 2013. Is it her actual birthday? Probably not. It was probably given to her because she was abandoned. BUT that date is what is ALL over her file. So I hop onto my Facebook account, and pull up my status for February 12th, 2013. Many of you might remember that I did a 30 days of Hubby Bragging on my Facebook. Well, this particular day was day 30. And here is a screenshot of what I posted. Please click on the photo to enlarge it if you aren't able to read the small photo.
Also please take note of the comment left by my amazing hubby! You still not sure God works in the details? Well, let me seal the deal for you right now. This is my husband's status he posted on his Facebook, the exact same day.
Our God, perfect in His timing. Perfect in all His ways. Was orchestrating each and every thing to bring this little girl into our life. A blessing all FOR HIS NAME, and HIS GLORY. Gah-lee, I cannot fathom NOT knowing a merciful and loving God such as ours. He is absolutely perfect, and each and every time His Plan is so incredibly perfect, and I wish I could convey how HE wants us to live absolutely, and completely surrendered to Him and His Will. He will show you GREAT and GLORIOUS things each and.every.time. Please take a minute to find your Selah moment. Your great pause, reflection, and praise of Amen! Thank Him for it. Thank Him for the road He took you down to get there, because looking through from the other side is SOOOO WORTH IT! We are stronger people for clinging to His promise, even when we thought there was NO HOPE. After a YES, turned to a NO, turned to a MAYBE, turned to an AMEN! Friends, our family will be going from four to six in just a few short months! I can hardly stand it. Asa got a little sister as his birthday present, and our family got a huge God blessing! Can I just also mention in closing, Selah's middle name is Karis, which means "Grace" in Greek. So her name will mean, Pause, Reflect, say Amen...to Grace.
