Monday, September 20, 2010

Monday Musing: The Wearying Wait

View from Princess Bink's orphanage in Klintsy, Russia--April 2005

Many of us who are waiting to adopt are blogging about the experience. A common
theme you'll find in many of these modern-day journals is how hard it is to WAIT.
There's nothing quite like knowing you have a child or, in our case, children, living in
an orphanage.

We continue to await the phone call which will inform us of our court date. As September
slips away, I long to travel to the homeland of my newest children and walk streets like the
one above. I long to hug and hold my "babies." I long to tell them in my extremely limited
Russian, "I love you." I even long to stand before a potentially-cantankerous judge to do our best
to explain why we would want to do something as odd as adding three more children to our
already large family. With all these longings competing for my emotional and mental energy,
the words of the following hymn help coax me back to a proper perspective:

"God shall alone the refuge be,
     And comfort of my mind;
Too wise to be mistaken, He,
     Too Good to be unkind.

In all his holy, sovereign will,
     He is, I daily find,
Too wise to be mistaken, still
     Too good to be unkind.

When I the tempter's rage endure,
     'Tis God supports my mind;
Too wise to be mistaken, sure,
     Too good to be unkind.

When sore afflictions on me lie,
     He is (though I am blind)
Too wise to be mistaken, yea,
     Too good to be unkind.

Hereafter he will make me know,
     And I shall surely find,
He was too wise to err, and O,
    Too good to be unkind."

(By Samuel Medley, from A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship by William Gadsby) quoted in
Too Wise to Be Mistaken, Too Good to Be Unkind: Christian Parents Contend with Autism by Cathy Steere
I am also rehearsing Psalm 119:68: "You are good and what you do is good" (NIV)

I don't understand why this wait has to go on so long, but I do understand that God is good,
God is wise and God is sovereign. I can trust Him. I can trust Him with my children.
He is too wise to be mistaken and too good to be unkind.

~Mrs. Beaver

4 comments:

The Nordstroms said...

Oh - I LOVE that hymn!! Such precious words. We should learn the tune & sing it. We need to pass this on to our Ethiopian blog/agency email friends. Thanks for sharing!
Heather

Sarah Gracen said...

That was a hymn to remember
I love poems and there's nothing
short of poetry when you write a hymn
You've inspired me to make a song on my blog please visit it sometime at
(poetic-meditations.blogspot.com)Hope to hear from you again.
-Poem Girl

Natalie said...

We continue to pray for this whole process!

MacMeister said...

You are in my prayers! May God bless you, strengthen you, and encourage you through this time of waiting, and may He give you the peace that passes all understanding!