Psalm 68:6
God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like I often “get” what God’s up to. Most of the time I am choosing to trust Him in spite of not really understanding. Many times I “think” I know, only to get to a point and realize that He was up to something totally different than I thought!
Yesterday was one of those few times where we got a glimpse and really understood for a moment what He was doing…..and it was GOOD!
I first saw Marida when she was walking down the street with her mom near the house we had just moved into. I’m not sure what happened as I sat at the stop sign and watched them walk, but something happened. I felt drawn to her and said to the Lord, “please send people to love that sweet young lady.” I knew nothing about her life, but felt connected to her instantly and could feel that she must have pain in her life. Melissa felt it too. She was in the car with me and as we sat there for that minute or so, she said, “Mom, what do we do?” We decided to pray for this girl and her mom, so as we drove away Melissa prayed out loud for them.
A few weeks later I went to the hospital because a nurse called the church and asked for someone to visit this family. I walked into the room and there was Marida, only this time her mom was in a hospital bed fighting for her life.
When her mom died a few weeks later, Marida was all alone in the world. We started doing as much as she’d let us do for her; laundry, a meal here and there, she started going to church with us, etc. Finally the day came when she moved in and she instantly became part of our family.
In the 2 years since then, Marida has graduated from high school with honors, been accepted to a 6 year medical school, gotten severe scoliosis corrected (which included 12 weeks in the hospital and 2 major surgeries), started college, and grown in her faith. We feel like we have been privileged to have a front row seat to see God working in her life!
Yesterday we stood before a judge and she changed her name to Marida Beise! As I thought back to that day when she was walking down the street with her mom, I realized that God answered my prayer. Our entire extended family adores her and loves her as if she’d been one of ours all along.
When I prayed that prayer, I had no idea that God would allow us to love her and to be loved and blessed by her!
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