Clay in the Potter's Hands.....

*If you missed my last post, please scroll down and read that first. It will explain what this post is all about.

For awhile now, we have felt that God has had something in store for us. We prayed and wondered what it was, but knew that God would clearly show us when it was time. I prayed that God would lead us down whichever path we were supposed to take, and that we would follow willingly. This past Tuesday evening, one of my FB friends published a photo of a little boy named Vitaly. Vitaly, a Ukrainian orphan, desperately needed someone to host him over the holidays through the New Horizons for Children hosting program. It turns out that he only had 2 days left for someone to choose him; after that he had no chance in the program. I don't know why, but something about the photo struck me - I think he reminded me of Adrian and Ashton for some reason. Anyway, I couldn't get him out of my head after that. I also dreamed about him all night long. In the morning, I prayed about him and then kept opening to verses such as, "And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent." Luke 4:43, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Luke 4:18-19,21 and "...who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14. I was also supposed to serve jury duty on Wednesday, but it was cancelled at the last minute which freed me up to pursue this. After talking with Chris, I filled out the pre-application and talked to the Ohio coordinator to find out all of the details. No one had stepped forward for Vitaly yet, and he was running out of time.

We talked some more, and on the way to church that night I was spouting off all the reasons why this wouldn't work. I mean, I already have 6 kids, 4 of which are wild boys - what in the world would I do with another? Christmas is already chaotic enough without adding another person to the mix, I don't know how to do this, lots of things could go wrong, I never make decisions this fast, etc, etc, etc. Shana popped up from the back seat and said, "Can I just say something? Jesus would go to the outcast." Which immediately shut me and all of my arguments up! She was absolutely right, of course!

In church, Chris and I felt that the service was aimed directly at us. We also sang a hymn called "Following Jesus", and the words jumped right off the page at me. After church, Chris told me that he knew, too, that this was God's will. Thursday morning, I called New Horizons and Vitaly was still available. And it was his last day! So we accepted, paid the initial hosting fees, signed up for a Saturday training session, and are now filling out paperwork like crazy.  

I am ready to be a useful lump of clay, ready to be stretched and formed into whatever vessel God wants to make me into. I'm sure it will be painful at times. I'm sure that there will be instances where I just want to hop off of the potter's wheel and go back into the lump shape on the sideboard and rest. But I know that God's plans and designs are so much more beautiful and useful than what I could have imagined. May His name be glorified.