Praying for the Most Important Miracle

On December 12, 2013, God granted me a miracle.  Those who follow my blog or facebook posts know that, out of the blue, the State of New Jersey returned our four year old foster daughter after she had been removed for ten months.  This was nothing short of a miracle and I give God all the praise and glory for performing the miracle.

I believe that God wants Christians to live a life of faith, which requires that we undertake bold acts for Him that will only succeed if God provides.  Our service as foster parents is one example of a life of faith. 

If we are going to live a life of faith, then we are going to have to depend on God and ask that He perform miracles.  We cannot do it ourselves.

I asked God to return our foster daughter to us.  I did not like the fact that He allowed her to be removed.  I did not like the fact that it took ten months for Him to grant the miracle.  But, He provided the miracle in His time.  Praise God.

After he granted that miracle, I started praying for another miracle (I think God wants us to pray for miracles.  It shows we are living by faith and are depending on Him).  I prayed, and am continuing to pray, that the natural mother of our four foster children will surrender the children and allow us to adopt them.  All four foster children have the same mother; they have different fathers who are not involved in their lives.  The older three children were removed from their mother 42 months ago and the younger one has been in our house since leaving the hospital after his birth.  Despite all of this time, the natural mother is still trying to have the children returned to her and she sees the children weekly.  At this point, it appears there will be a trial to determine whether the children will return to her or whether her parental rights are terminated and the children can be adopted.  If there is a trial, I do not know how it will turn out. 

I believe it is in the best interests of the children if we adopt them.  So, I am praying for a miracle.  I am praying that the mother, even after 42 months of battle, will surrender the children and we will be able to adopt them.

While I have been praying for this miracle, I realized that my miracle is not the most important request.  The most important issue for this family is their salvation.  While I pray for the children, for their adoption, and for their salvation, I have not diligently prayed for the mother’s salvation.  If God grants my miracle, I will adopt the four children and they will accept Him as their Savior (the oldest one has already done this), but the mother may never accept Jesus as her Savior.  No matter how much earthly help I can give the children, the reality is that it is an insignificant benefit if they spend eternity apart from God.  The best thing that I can give to any of these people is Jesus Christ.  Now, I am praying for a more important miracle – the salvation of their mother. 

I’m still praying that she will surrender the children, but her salvation is the more important request.