sharing

last night a dear, old friend called me and i had the pleasure of talking her ear off.
-that's been known to happen.
i'm a talker.
and she happened to be asking about something very near and dear to my heart...
fostering.

our family is blessed. we get to share our story more often than lots of families we know because we have fake twins. we have two boys who are three weeks apart. so every time we meet someone new and they ask what the boys' ages are, and then they hear that two of them are 5, they automatically say (almost as if it's scripted) "oh so you have twins?" and then we get to say, "nope. they are three weeks apart. we fostered and adopted the boys. we call them fake twins." and more often than not, then we get more questions about fostering, adoption, biology, etc.

--at times i get tired of it. --explaining how our family came to be to a complete stranger. and sometimes they ask rude questions. and sometimes it's right in front of my kids.
BUT yesterday i was reminded...once again...how God gave us our testimony to share. and how it's such a blessing to do so. it glorifies God in the telling and in the remembering.
every time i share about getting all four boys in under 2 1/2 years and how it was so hard and at times quite miserable, but God helped us through it and it was by His strength alone that we got through it and are no longer just surviving but thriving, i feel joy. He is faithful. He brought us through the toughest times in our lives thus far.

my friend called to ask for wisdom regarding a friend of hers who just recently had three boys placed with her. her friend is struggling. and she has every reason to be. i, for one, locked myself in a bathroom once upon a time, hoping that my problems would be gone when i came out. they weren't. and through prayer and a ton of dependence on the Lord and faithful friends and family, we got through it. not in our own strength, but HIS.

i reminded my friend that in every story of God's redemption, of His provision, of His protection, love, justice, mercy, things were really bad when the story starts out. and God makes a way. these stories we hear of remarkable things that God does, they start out with pain, struggle, suffering, loss. and then...GOD REDEEMS. He makes new.

we have a story like that. one where we said yes and God provided everything. then we doubted because it was so very, very hard, and God still provided. God gave us what we needed to be the parents we needed to be for our boys.

are some days still rough? tremendously. are we still dealing with not-so-pleasant behaviors and illness and frustration and the like? absolutely. are the boys worth it? without a doubt.

and because we trusted in the Lord, and He does not disappoint, we are on the other side of what was an incredibly difficult and tense situation. God carried us through. and now, when we get to explain how God formed our family, we share joy and receive joy because we are reminded of God's faithfulness. our testimony is for sharing.

your testimony is for sharing.