Equipping the Called

I am in Austin, Texas for the Together for Adoption Conference. I have spent the day with Dr. Karyn Purvis, and I am here to tell you there is NOOOOOOO child who has been wounded toooooo deeply to be healed if we turn over enough rocks to find the tools...and with the power of the Holy Spirit! Can I tell you how my Spirit rejoiced when I heard a professional doctor say that! So many thing she said made common sense, why are more not saying it??!!! We need people studying under her to carry on this type of thinking in professional settings! I learned so much that I can't wait to get home and try on my own children, as well as so many things that have equipped me to better equip adoptive parents!

As I have thought about what I do and how people ask me all the time how I do it, this trip to Austin has brought back a memory that I think I just have to share. It is a humbling story. But speaks to the Truth that God will equip you to what He calls you to do! Being pre-equipped is not a pre-requisite. Let me explain!

Nearly six years ago, we lost Addy. God immediately called us to what has now become Addy's Hope. The ministry was birthed in a laundry room at a condo where we were staying the week in San Antonio, Texas. In the weeks to follow John and my laundry room conversation, God would throw doors open so we just kept walking through them. We did not have the slightest clue about how to run an adoption agency, a non-profit or a business. But we heard the voice of God, so we walked in obedience.

One of those steps was to go to Austin in order to attend an informational meeting in order to be licensed as a child placing agency. I was going to fly to Austin, meet two friends who were also working on getting a license, and fly home. I was terrified! I was a stay at home mom! I had no idea how to be in the "professional" world! Before being a stay at home mom, I was a teacher. That's just a little bit up the ladder, right? I mean few think of teachers as "real" professionals! Now I was going to be meeting with "big wigs" to see about becoming licensed. I got on line, looked up flights, called in, made my reservation, figured out how I was going to get to the meeting place, etc, etc. I layed down in bed that night sooooo proud of myself! I looked at John and said, "I did it!!! I made all the arrangements and I will arrive in Houston in enough time to get to the meeting." I sat straight up in the bed and threw my hand over my mouth! Got up and checked my reservation....sure enough! I had made my plane reservation for Houston and not Austin!!!! What little confidence I had mustered to start this journey was quickly depleted! But that would just be the first of M-A-N-Y episodes that God has used over the past 6 years to keep me humble in this journey! He reminds me that I need Him at every turn!

And today, that meant at every turn around too! On my way from the hotel to the church, I lost count of h ow many u-turns I did! I even called John to tell him that he would be laughing at me if he were here! Last night I did manage to make it to Austin by myself (at least I got the right city this time!), but the trip did include two u-turns and one small trip the wrong way down a one-way-road!

So if you are feeling called to something that you know you don't have the skill set to do right now, take that step of faith anyway! He will equip you! I am living proof of that!

Can't wait for the conference tomorrow! Down to download my brain of what I learned today to make room for tomorrow!