Another Daigle: While I'm Waiting (Part 1)

It’s funny how a song takes on new meaning in different seasons of my life.

Scripture doesn’t really do that…take on new meaning. It seems to mean the same thing but pokes me in a different spot. Scripture stays the same but attacks a different infection in my life, binds up a different wound.

In the last several weeks, I have heard the song While I’m Waiting by John Waller a bazillion times. Not really, of course. But, it’s been often enough to force me to ponder the fact that I am waiting.

Right now, I am waiting for our family to receive a referral from America World AdoptionAssociates. By a referral, I mean the phone call from our Family Coordinator telling us that we have the option to adopt a specific child. At that time, we will be able to view a picture of the child, medical evaluations, any known background information and social assessments that have been made or gathered by the staff.

So, we wait. We are waiting for a referral for a boy, from Ethiopia, between the ages of 2 and 6. If you would like to know why this is the child we are requesting, just ask us. It’s a long discussion, best suited to relaxed conversation over a steaming cup of tea.

We have only been waiting a short while. December 7^th, a date which will live in infamy, marked our 3^rd month of being DTE. DTE stands for Dossier To Ethiopia. This hurdle means that all of our paperwork is done and we are officially on the list to adopt a child in Ethiopia. On the unofficial list, we are #21 in line for a child over the age of 4. However, there are only 10 families on the list ahead of us that are requesting a boy or are open to either gender. Also, only 5 of those families are open to a boy over the age of 5.

So, we wait. And, we will probably be waiting for a long time.

It's not the first time that we've had to wait.

We’ve had to wait for direction.

We’ve had to wait for deliverance.

We’ve had to wait for healing.

We’ve had to wait for provision.

However, none of those waits had a list, a day on the calendar to count from, a Facebook page and Yahoo group of others waiting alongside of us. None of those waits left a little boy as an orphan on the other side of the earth.

Larry was asked to speak in a senior adult Sunday school class a few weeks back and in their curriculum, I was struck by this quote regarding Acts 1, when the disciples were waiting for the Holy Spirit.

“The key to waiting is to wait with purpose. The disciples did not accidently wait. They obediently waited. The obedience was not only THAT they waited but HOW they waited.” – Jesse Rincones, pastor of AllianceChurch in Lubbock, Texas and President of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas

The reason that this quote gave me such a jolt was that we had just been asked to consider serving in a new way. And, of course, I had immediate reservations because WE ARE WAITING. What if we start serving and then we get a referral? That means that we will have to find someone to cover in this new area while we travel to Ethiopia…twice! What if the transition is awful and we drop the ball? What if we all end up with giardia? What if? What if? What if?

This song was so convicting this week because I have been waiting, not just on a referral, but on a lot of What Ifs. Ugh…I stink at this.

Do you know what? Matthew 6:25-34 did not change this week. It just poked me in a different place this week. It poked me where I trusted myself and my planning and my spreadsheets and my pile of adoption/attachment/trans-racial parenting books.

So, we wait.

But, we will serve Him while we are waiting.