Tears of Joy

Our fingerprints have arrived safely in Atlanta at the USCIS as of Friday! Our wonderful friend Charles at Senator Isakson's office emailed us the great news. I sat and cried tears of joy. I guess by the time we get Kalina's visa to come home I'll fall on the floor of the embassy and sob! We're clearly getting closer to coming home. Praise God!
This morning as I spent time with God I came to Him with a troubled and downcast heart. Being here brings so many questions and so much turmoil. In the middle of all this, I need to stop and remember that God has answered the cry of our hearts for many, many years. We are parents! We have a daughter that God has given us! Yes, we're in this foreign land with no knowledge of how or when we'll get home. However, God is faithful! I must continue to focus on what He has done and what He has promised. Everything I read about following God involves waiting and suffering. In today's devotional that I read, there was this verse from Genesis 15-"Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be mistreated for four hundred years but afterward they will come out with great possessions." We certainly are strangers in a county not our own. We are lookng forward to coming out with great possessions. We are coming out with Kalina-a child chosen by God! We are coming out with much more, most likely great possessions that won't be realized until sometime in the future. If following God only involved waiting and suffering, nobody would follow Him. However, Jesus came to give us abundant life. When we follow God, we begin to know His indescribable love. That's surely the greatest treasure-to know Him more!