Holding Babies is Spiritual Warfare

Some friends of our recently were licensed for foster care here in Spokane, with the hope and intention to adopt when possible.

I went and saw them at the hospital last week and was struck by the beauty of the foster parents holding, gazing, feeding and nurturing this newborn child.

It struck me, Satan wants nothing more that this child be abandoned, discarded, left to cry without someone to care and nurture the child. Holding babies is spiritual warfare for believers. In such a simple act there is worship if attention, prayer goes to our maker and creator. The fact that this or any other baby makes it outside the womb is a miracle from above and another stage of spiritual warfare enters as we nurture young infants.

This couple does not know if they will be able to adopt this child. They might have this care in their care, custody, love, care, and protection for months or years and not be able to finalize the adoption...the Lord only knows. Yet, their confidence is not in 'a system' or 'a program', but in the good and perfect plans from the Lord. They are confident the in the Lord, in His purposes, His plans, and His ways. My faith is strengthened, stretched, exhorted as I see them walking in God's will for them.

Over the Thanksgiving time, I told them it is such a joy to have friends who are waging spiritual warfare and entering this hard road of life and ministry, especially with so many unknowns ahead.

Their response  to this encouragement was so biblical and God-centered. "We are confident we are in the will of God when He led us down this road. There is no real risk when you are walking down the road God has for you. We are so grateful He has called us to ministry." Preach it, declare it on the mountaintops. O what a great God we have!!!!

Desiring God Live with Darrin Patrick

Darren Patrick is lead pastor at Journey Church in St. Louis and vice-president of the Acts 29 church planting network. He recently authored the book Church Planter and recently sat down with the crew at Desiring God for an interview.

I watched this for a few reasons, but one because I bought the book and wanted to get a little more background on the context of the HOW and WHY the book was written.

The promo video for the book is excellent and worth the 5 minutes it takes to watch.

Here are a few thoughts, quotes, etc. I walked away with from the interview:

- In Darrin's testimony, God used an assistant high school football coach to bring the message of the Gospel to him when he was a junior in high school, had just gotten kicked off the football team for drinking, kicked out of school for fighting and was sure he had just gotten his girlfriend pregnant.

The below quotes have a full context within the interivew to understand, but they are worth noting.

"You can always take the commands of God back to the character of God"


"I saved you, so now you can obey me" (not the other way around)


"You cannot make God smile bigger at you than He already is because of what Jesus has done"


"There is a difference between surface idols and source idols" You'll have to listen to the interview for him to unpack this.

Disaster is 'when the story and glory of a church becomes bigger than the story and glory of God'.

"A BAN is not a boy, not a man, prolongs adolescence and many do this because they don't have dads."

What is the posture God wants to use us in??? Weakness II COR. 12.

'When people look around at you and aren't impressed with you but with Jesus, that is a great thing.'

The Grace of God in our Circumstances:

Below is a link to a article I found worthy of thought and prayer.

May the grace of God compel us to go reach the nations!

The Grace of God in our Circumstances: Why you weren't Born as an Impoverished Child in an Unreached Nation:

The Unreached People Groups

A few weeks ago, one of the men I have gotten to know over the years preached at our Sunday gathering of believers.


He and his wife have given their lives in taking the Good News of the Gospel to bibleless people groups. This family has given their life work in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators to reach people who have never been able to read the Word of God in their own language.

His message is HERE if interested, it is titled Proclaiming Christ where Christ is Unknown.

Some good friends, Troy and Stevi, live in Austin TX and a apart of The Austin Stone Community Church.

This church has made a huge concerted effort toward reaching the unreached and have a great website helping spread that message, called the 100 People Network.

They also hosted the Together for Adoption National Conference a few months back.

A week or so ago, I saw this video below of a couple who is preparing to go, though they don't know where as of yet. 

This video is very well done and is a great to watch, PRAY, and consider.

#35 and #36 of 100 from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

HT: (Spirit of Adoption)

Adoption is the Gospel

Below is a great Adoption video I found via the Orphan Sunday website.

The aspect of this video I love the most...

Adoption isn't about 147 million orphans...

Adoption isn't about Poverty...

Adoption is the GOSPEL.

Orphan Sunday 2010 from Matthew Wilson on Vimeo.

"They learn from what I am excited about..."

"It’s worth asking ourselves regularly: Is it clear to others that nothing excites me more than the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified?"  Here is a blog post to read and consider.


D.A. Carson:
If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.


HT: CJ Mahaney via Justin Taylor



The sermon at church ran along the same lines as this article, but this blog post is worth taking note of.

Here are the questions I am asking myself in response to reading this article:

- I need to be regularly asking my wife and others around me: Based on what you see in my life, my time, my money, my attention, what would you say I am the most passionate about?

- Do I put hope, confidence and assurance in some technique or parenting style instead of the Hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Greed, Gideon, and Goodness of God

For the longest time I have thought that God was going to use me to give millions and millions of dollars away to the work of His service for the advance of His name...I don't think so anymore.

I have always been thinking about, trying to be creative toward, finding the next big business that would explode, the money would just start flowing like a waterfall (into my wallet that is, not out), and I would then have millions and millions of dollars at my disposal to give to the Lord's work as He so leads. Give ridiculous amounts anonymously, rescue children from horrific situations, plant churches, give financially to start care facilities, etc.

These are all incredibly important things that I believe are very close to the heart of God. YET, the Lord knows where I am susceptible to succumb to temptation. Here are some things the Lord has been revealing to me:

1. I can say 'I want to honor the Lord' and worship the false god of greed in the same sentence'

2. God is so gracious to keep 'good things' from me because He knows how quick I am to get comfortable, trust in bank accounts, clients, myself...so that my trust remains in Him and not in the things of this world.
What if the Lord 'blessed' me with $2.5 million and it was all used for good causes, but at the same time it caused me to trust in myself, and hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? What a tragedy that would be. Thank you Lord for keeping me dependent upon You.

3. If I had to much $$$ (prosperity, security in worldly possessions, etc) I would WHORE after them. (Scary imagery, but biblical).

4. I am easily snared, trapped, deceived, snookered, by the love of money.

Father, thank you for your gracious hand of love and patience. Thank you for keeping vast riches from me, though I tell myself I would use it to proclaim Your name. You know my frailty, my temptations, my weaknesses. Thank you for Christ Jesus who was vastly rich and became forsakenly poor so I, Dustin Conrad Greenup, could know the riches of knowing Christ Jesus.

I truly do thank the Lord that there are Christ-Followers who love Jesus and whom God has allowed to make millions and millions of dollars. I pray that God would bless them and cause HIS face to shine upon them and that their resources would be used to magnify Him to the ends of the earth and to proclaim that He is God and not stuff.

About a month ago our growth group (community group, small group, etc.) was studying Judges chapters 6 through 10 and it was some incredibly challenging passages regarding the life of Gideon.

  God was so good, gracious and patient with Gideon and consistently took him through faith building situations in which he could not trust in himself, but in the God who would provide for him.


   8:27 And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.

Tri-Cities Adoption/Foster Care Conference

Heidi and I went to a conference in Tri-Cities a few days ago that was put on the by Adoption/Orphan Care ministry of the Calvary Chapel in Kennewick. (Heidi and Camille were sick for most of it, so we only got to go to about 1/2 of the sessions, but we are very thankful we went down.)

We went for a few reasons.

1. The Lord has increasingly placed a desire/burning upon our souls to see God's name exalted in families in the Spokane community and we wanted to see how this conference was organized/focused/etc. to get a glimpse and continue to think through if the Lord is desiring us to be involved in something similar in Spokane in the coming year/years, etc.

2. There were several breakout sessions that seemed of interest and very applicable in some of the struggles we are currently wrestling through.

Great Connections
This is the 2nd year that this church has put this conference on and they had about 150 registrants. There are many people in this church who have gone down the road of foster care/foster to adopt/domestic adoption/international adoption.

There is a group of people/churches in Spokane that are passionate about seeing the local church dive into this area of life and ministry and the believers in Tri-Cities have been a great resource for us.

Instead of summarizing the whole thing, let me give you a few links of people/ministries that were/are great resources:

Forever Homes: Lynn and Jennie have started to help many many couples who have struggled through Attachment issues. They have 'foster to adopted' 3 children (I think) and have gone through a lot and they are passionate about helping others who are feeling emotionally drained, weary and in need of practical help.

The Vickerman Family: They were along with many others instrumental in organizing this event. Thank you.

Julee Fesser - Mom of 27 children, (I think). In her breakout session, titled 'life with a multi-Racial, multi-Ethnic, Mult-EVERYTHING family, she shared her/their story of how God ministered to them, called them, and blesses them in this journey. The majority of people who attended her breakout session were wondering answers to questions like, 'How do you survive, how do you get everything done, how do you spend time with each of your children, etc.' She was very gracious to answer those questions, but the main thrust of her story is God! When he calls you to something, he provides the necessary strength and stamina to carry through. She was very honest and transparent and clear that just because God's calls you to something, doesn't mean that it is going to turn out great. For example, He might be calling you to go overseas and serve an unreached people group...and you might get there and within a month die of Malaria. Just because that were to happen doesn't mean it was a mistake or wasn't something God was calling you to. God sometimes works in that manner. Their life and ministry has been devoted to honoring the Lord by giving a home and family to those children who most people would not adopt. Children with Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, others issues. She was a normal person who had a Great Big view of God and thus followed Him in light of His greatness and glory.

'His Purposes are Right and Will Stand'...especially during suffering

Below is a wonderful video a family who is spreading the love of Christ in the midst of cancer, foster care, adoption. Let this be an encouragement and know that what the Lord is teaching you in these moments of life He has purpose for His glory in them.



The Watters' Story from Children Desiring God on Vimeo.


Desiring God is hands down one of my favorite ministries. God exalting, Christ-centered, and full of great resources.

Blessed by Local Churches in Spokane & Beyond

These past few weeks we have been so blessed by so many. I thought I'd share a little.

1. We have a dear friend who is a student at Whitworth and this past Sunday, she had been given some $$ to serve others with. She wrote us a gracious note and wanted to help toward the cost of bringing our son home. We were so blessed by her and her church as a result of this.

2. Heidi and I went down to the Tri-Cities and attended an adoption/foster care conference at the Calvary Chapel in Kennewick. Though we weren't able to get to all of it because Heidi and Camille were both kind of sick, we were blessed by this event and the people we met. (I'll post a bit more about this soon).

3. Some good friends of ours, who are also in the process of adopting from Ethiopia, invited us to come to their local community of believers, Vintage Faith, and share a bit of our story regarding international adoption. Though we were only there for a little while, we were so blessed to hear how they are starting an adoption fund for families within their church who are being called by the Lord to pursue adoption. We look forward to see how God work mightily

4. Christ the Redeemer, another local body of believers in Spokane, also had an adoption/orphan care kickoff on their Sunday morning gathering this past Sunday. I have yet to hear how that went, but looking forward to hearing about it. They set up a blog, it is worth checking out. I love the name of what they called it, 'Off the Wall Ministries.'

5. Faith Bible Church, the local body of believers that our family is a part of has started to connect families who have experienced adoption, foster care, etc. with new families that are starting down that road. We have some dear friends who just got their foster care license a week ago and one of the other families who has adopted once through the foster care system and hopefully will be completing their second adoption shortly had them over for dinner to help encourage and prepare this couple for the road ahead. 

"Reactive Attachment Disorder...whatever" and "The recovering Pharisee"

      I used to be that guy who rolled his eyes (probably not visibly, but definitely in my mind) when someone told me that their child was having attachment issues or had a Sensory Processing Disorder. I used to think that stuff is just a bit fu-fu and if those people would just parent 'the right way' their kids would get over those issues. 'It must be the parents fault'...'bad parenting.' If they would simply implement 'these' techniques, then the kids would turn out. Oh how this bleeds excessively of legalism, moralism, and nauseating religiosity.

 My whole testimony of God's grace and sanctification in my life is a 'Used to be Pharisee & saved by Grace'.

If you are not familiar with the terms 'RAD or Sensory Processing Disorder', you might be rolling your eyes at me know thinking I have gone off the deep end and have surely lost it. That's ok, because there are people out there who know what I am talking about.

As Heidi and I started to pray and think more through this and talk to parents who have adopted children, we realized that what we were seeing/feeling/sensing was real stuff and we were not alone on an island in realizing what we were going through with Ezra.

I am very thankful for blogs because it is a place where people share their life, joys, struggles, hurts, etc.

A few years ago, we met a couple, Russ and Lisa Qualls, at an adoption conference. They had 7 biological children, and then followed the Lord' call on their life to adopt 4 children from Ethiopia. She has been very transparent on her blog and one specific article she wrote was very helpful to me to drop my pride and ASK FOR HELP. This article is SO HELPFUL, so freeing, so raw and transparent.

If you click the link that follows, another adoptive parent explains a day in the life with a child with attachment issues. Read it here. (Not all attachment issues are are severe as she describes, but some are).

A few ways the Lord has grown me over the course of the last few months as we wrestle through, think through, pray through these issues of Reactive Attachment Disorder (and parenting in general).

1. Compassion - Both for Parents who are trying to help their adopted children with RAD and compassion for Ezra as we seek to love him and serve him.

2. Kindness and Gentleness - A soft answer turns away wrath (rage, fury, anger).
   The kindness of the Lord is meant to lead you to repentance.

3. Less Judgmental - Like I said in the title, I am a recovering Pharisee and God is doing a good work in my/our heart to love others and have more sympathy towards people who deal with rough kids and situations.

Quick list of resources for RAD and other sensory disorders:

Empowered To Connect - Karyn Purvis wrote and excellent book, The Connected Child. Dr. Purvis and a few others wrote a FREE study guide to go along with the book, called Created to Connect. 


Adopting for Life Conference: Earlier in 2010, there was a conference in Louisville, KY, there was a conference that had many resources. One of those resources was a sermon titled, Attachment Disorders and the Gospel: Building the right adoption DNA into your family.


Attachment.org : We are currently reading a book, When love is not enough, and feel like it is a good resource to have in our toolkit. She has a lot of other good resources available, though we haven't used any of them yet.

I thank Jesus for His gracious, forgiving love and how he continually reveals to me that I am a in need of a Savior, on a daily basis. I thank the Lord He has had us go down this road of adoption but it has not been easy, care free, all smiles, picture perfect.

 But if it were, why would I need trust Jesus for His sustaining grace?

For those of you who have read this far, please comment on other resources you have found helpful as you trust the Lord in working with children with attachment issues?

Adoption Update, Waiting on the Lord for a Court Date and Ezra praying

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted.

We don't really have any new information about the progress of our adoption as we wait for application for a court hearing.

We talked to our case worker yesterday and this week's rounds of court application appointments occurred, but our case was not one that was heard.

Each Wednesday new courts appointments are given, so we'll have to wait until next week to see if our case will be on schedule.

Crazy thing is that the latest court appointments were for January 21st, 2011. So even if we did get a court appointment next week, the actual court date and traveling to Ethiopia wouldn't be until at least the last week of January and maybe even February.

How to pray for us & Musse
1. Please pray that with us that we will get a court appointment soon. Our heart is so desirous to get over there and see, hold, touch, care for, nurture, feed, smile with, our son.
2. Please pray that our hearts will remain hopeful in the times of waiting. Without a doubt the Lord has magnificent purposes in seasons of waiting and we want to trust Him completely.
3.  We got some updated pictures and what a joy to get those...it is like Christmas getting new pictures, especially ones where he is smiling. Quickly brought me to tears of joy and of longing to be in Ethiopia to hold my son, but pictures are a huge blessing.


It has been such a joy to see Ezra and Olivia begin to pray for Musse on a daily basis. Ezra really has taken this seriously and prays for him on a daily basis without any initiation on our part. He usually prays as follows,

 'Dear Lord, please be with Moses Hudson today. Please help him have someone who will give him something to eat and will watch out for him until we can come and get him. Help us be able to go get him soon.'

A story of God's provision

I read the story below via the AbbaFund Blog.

Wonderful!!!!

So I just wanted to share some super exciting and overwhelming news… My husband has been working part time as the pastor of our church for the past year, and also working for the postal service. He finally left the post office and went full time with our church last week. Well, this past Sunday, they called us up to the front to give him a card and express their appreciation for him (evidently October was pastor appreciation month). So we came up, and one of our elders gave him the card and told him to open it then. So he opened it up, and inside was a little certificate that said:

“Just as your adoption into the family of Christ has been fully paid, so also has the adoption of your daughter been fully paid.”

And there was a big “$11,500.00″ written on it. Which is the amount that we still needed to save to cover our remaining costs. And then after we read it, the whole church stood and started clapping!

WOW!! I have no words for how shocked and how thankful and how amazed we were/are. It’s insane. I can’t even express. Our church is NOT big. We have around 50 members, and about 100 total regular attenders. We have no idea where the money even came from… except that it came from God!

I just wanted to share this, because it’s so awesome and we are so thankful and I hope that it will encourage someone. We had no idea where we were going to come up with the money for this adoption when we started… but we never worried about it. We always knew that God would provide. We just didn’t know He would provide such a large sum at one time, haha! He is so good and so faithful! Praise God!

Liv
ethiopiansisty.blogspot.com