What the Lord's Been Encouraging Me With Lately

As Little Bit's visits & overnight visits with his parents have increased in frequency, it is very easy to give in to discouragement. I know that the impending transition out of my arms and into the family he was born to is not any reflection upon my "parenting abilities" or lack thereof... it is more a reflection of his parents' progress in doing all the courts have demanded of them. Does it look like a joyful thing to me? No. I am glad for them that they are free from drugs & alcohol and that they seem to have their mental illnesses in better check, but they are far from the stable influence I would want in his life... and already struggling with his older siblings... BUT MY GOD is worthy of my trust. We have given Little Bit over to His care and direction time and again, so must accept that even this is part of a heavenly plan for his life, even if it appears to be less than ideal in so many ways.

Over the last 2 months, the Lord has continually directed my thoughts toward 1 Samuel. Hannah prayed for a son for many years, finally had one, then weaned him & presented him to the Lord at the temple. Eli, the priest, had 2 older sons who were living lives of wicked abandon – it was publically known that they were robbing the offerings, sleeping with the women in the temple & threatening people to have their own way with things. Eli was turning his head the other way, not correcting or punishing them for their misdeeds, he was a lousy dad & an even worse priest. And yet, Samuel was brought to him to raise! Look, Samuel prospered in all that he did BECAUSE the LORD had His hand upon him.

That same God, who met Samuel in the midst of a corrupt household & made him into a powerful man of God, loves my Little Bit more than I do, more than I ever could. He has His hand upon Little Bit to complete His good plan for his life. I don’t know that my involvement in his life will be any greater than Hannah’s as the years go by (providing a new robe when she went for the yearly offerings at the temple). It is quite possible they will leave town & I will never see him again. It is their stated intent to do so… but even if they pull stakes and relocate to the ends of the earth, they can no sooner derail the claim the Lord has on this little one than Eli's family could with Samuel.

I KNOW that the Lord has a destiny for Little Bit that far outshines my imagination and my hopes for him. I KNOW that he will come to a saving knowledge of Christ, and quite possibly despite his circumstances. This is my declaration of faith in my God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly more beyond what I would dare to hope or dream.

There are bound to be dark valleys that I walk between now and the end of this journey. In wisdom, my Sweet Baboo and I are investing ourselves even more fully in our relationship with each other and in our close friendships with those we know are ready with a shoulder to cry on and a reminder that the Lord has been cultivating fruit in our lives over these last 2 years with Little Bit. We wouldn't trade this time with our special boy for anything, even being spared the heartache that is bound to ensue.