11/30/20

It has been 7 months since my last update, and Asher’s 4th birthday was last Wednesday. I have been avoiding writing this one because it makes me sad to know we missed another birthday. We have been connected to him since he was only eleven months old. Every year, on his birthday, the four of us sit around a cupcake or a donut with candles stabbed into the top and sing “Happy Birthday” to Asher. We haven’t had a picture of him in about a year, and we have had no updates from the orphanage (outgoing information is heavily monitored by the communist party), but we will celebrate his life. We have been asked a few times by friends and family if we could “get another one” instead of pushing through ridiculous amounts of time and fees and paperwork.  

I asked God today what He wants me to tell you. He said, “Tell them that I’m faithful.” God doesn’t give up on us. Even when it takes years of tedium, progress is hard to see, and things don’t go “right,” God is faithful. He doesn’t leave. His love endures forever. Psalm 136 sings a timeline of events where God proves Himself faithful to Israel and to every living thing. In the popular 1 Corinthians 13 passage, love endures; it is faithful; nothing is anything at all without love. God doesn’t give up when things are difficult or take a long time. He doesn’t find someone else when you do things that require Him to be patient. He is faithful. He finishes what He starts. Difficulty does not imply the absence of God; He endures in the difficulty.  

We won’t ask for a different child or an easier situation because Asher is worth it. Time and resources are not wasted if they are spent enduring in love. I imagine faithfulness is always worth it to the one on the receiving end. Whatever you are enduring, God is with you. No matter how difficult or painful your situation is, and no matter how wrong or stubborn you are, God will not be the one who gives up. He’ll endure. He is faithful. He’s waiting for you and with you. Asher doesn’t even know that we love him, that we are fighting for him, and that all of you are praying for him. He probably doesn’t even know that God is planning things for him. God is better, wiser, and more loving than I am, and if I can endure and love this kiddo I don’t know, how much more does God love you? What is He planning that you don’t even know yet? Who is fighting for you that you cannot even see? Endure. God is faithful.