I am constantly amazed at the way God works in my life. The Lord definitely sees the bigger picture. When I was 17 I felt like God was calling me to be a missionary to China. The big problem was that China did not allow missionaries to come to China.
Fast forward to college. I just happened to be a history major with a deep interest in Asian history. I had an absolutely wonderful Chinese history teacher and took many classes in Chinese history. He encouraged me to go on to get a Master's in Chinese history but at the time it was impossible. No way I could move to a state that offered it.
He also encouraged me to learn Mandarin. I quite literally laughed at him thinking that I would most certainly never use the language.
Fast forward a few decades and now my husband and I, after having two children, were considering adopting a child. Through a lengthy process of decision making we finally settled on Chinese adoption. We found a 3 year old child who seemed to fit our family perfectly.
Our adoption advocate told us the competition was fierce to adopt this beautiful little girl. She thought our chances were slim. God however had other plans. My knowledge of Chinese history and of a mild medical condition that she had tipped the scale and we were chosen to be her new parents.
When my mother and I went to China to bring her home it became clear to me that the knowledge of Mandarin that my old history professor had encouraged would have definitely been a plus. Communicating with her was mainly by pointing and play. I remember trying to say the word 'arm' in Mandarin. She giggled uncontrollably every time I tried to say it. (I still wonder what I was actually saying!)
She soon realized we could not understand or speak her language and I never heard another word of Chinese from her. (Fast forward to today and she is minoring in Business Chinese in college.)
One day in the hotel in Nanning our interpreter came very near me and whispered, "Are you Christian?" I whispered back, yes, definitely. In tears he told us he had prayed that she would have a Christian home. He told us he had been converted several years ago and how important his faith was to him. I was crying. (We had to whisper because it was well known that the rooms were bugged by the government.)
Do you see where my story is going? My prayer to become a missionary to China in some ways became a reality. I would be a missionary to this child. I would be able to show her Jesus, something that would have most likely never happened if she had stayed in China.
We never know the road that God has prepared for us. God's plans are greater! We can't imagine how wonderful the blessings may be. All of my children are great blessings. My two biological children were not supposed to be able to happen according to doctors, but God had other plans.
Who could have imagined that my love of Chinese history would one day help to enable us to adopt a child from there. Never limit God. Never give up hope.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." I Corinthians 2: 9
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