3 Wonderful Wedding, 2 Amazing Adoptions, and Suffering as a Cherry on Top

Mom and Paul saying their vows with Juan

This summer has been the summer of weddings for me. First my mom who has been single for 30 years gets married to a wonderful man named Paul on the Annapolis Bay with sail boats sailing by in the background. You see it is never to late to find someone to love. Juan performed the ceremony, Corban and Connor walked her down the isle and it was just truly wonderful. Mom and Paul have just bought a sailboat and they are going to sail to the Florida Keys together each winter, how romantic!

Kelly, one of the girls who was a leader in our U-turn youth group just got married. It has been a dream of hers since she was in Jr. High to one day get married and have a family. She was so discouraged as she waited year after year after year and found no one who would love her. She was hoping to fall in love that first year of college I am sure. But nothing happened. Year after year went by and it looked as if her dream would never come true. 7 long years she waited to meet that special someone and 2 weeks back they had a beautiful garden wedding and she is off on her honeymoon as I write this. I am so happy for her and her wonderful husband Matthew.

Sweet Kelly and her man Matthew

Lastly, Jessica. Jessica is one of the most amazing girls I have ever known. She is smart, caring, funny, beautiful, a wonderful person all around with confidence to boot. She and her twin sister Julia were in our youth group as well years back and were very involved in the church. Jessica and Julia were adopted from India to a wealthy white couple that attended our church at the time. These parents were always strange, saying odd things, being argumentative, religious in the bad since, super controlling and always disappointed with Jessica, one of the most amazing girls ever to be in our youth group in the 10 years we were youth pastors. Recently I was in the mix with Jessica as she let me see the abusive hate e-mail's her parents sent her. I was horrified at their insanity and cruelty. They disowned both of their adoptive girls (who by the way have done nothing wrong, Julia works for a US Senator in DC and Jessica taught college and is now working at a law firm in Phillie doing social justice). They did not attend both of their weddings. They told them they never want to see the girls ever again, not even on their death bed, for no reason whatsoever. First the girls were abandoned by their birth parents in India, now their American family has rejected them once again.

Upon receiving this news and reconnecting with the girls I decided immediately to make sure these wonderful young women know they can be part of our family. Julia has a son Cole who I would love to treat as a grandson or a nephew. I don't know for sure if the girls feel they can trust me after being so abused. I am not sure if they understand how deep my love and acceptance runs for them. I think of them every day. I feel as if they are my own children, or my own sisters (depending on what makes them feel more comfortable). I watched them grow up in my youth group from young little girls into God following women. I remember all of our long talks as they were teens trying to decide which path to follow with their lives.

So, I was at Jessica's wedding a few weeks ago and I could not have been more happy for her. She married a Princeton graduate who's major was Theology and who loves the Lord and Jessica with all of his heart. Sweet Andrew. Up at the front of the Bride's side of the church the first 3 pews were empty as no family came, not even grandparents, nothing. I didn't care what anyone thought, I went up front and sat on the isle (2nd row back) so that as she walked down the isle she would see my smiling, approving, loving face. Behind me was her current pastors wife, behind that was Julia's mother-in-law. I was so thrilled that there were 3 strong, loving Godly women standing there to show Jessica that she is not alone, we are by her side.

It is amazing what God has in our futures. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut and think that this is the way it will always be, but that is not true. Things are always shifting, always changing sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. But, I believe that when you put the Lord as number 1 in your life and equally as important allow him to mold you, change you, work out the hard spots with pressure and rubbing that sometimes hurts, you will come out smoother, softer, and more displaying the image of Christ and the fullness of what He created you to be. I was reading in Isaiah this morning about: how can the clay say to his maker, your doing this wrong! He is the maker, He is the creator. You know when I was sick for many years (and still have my struggles with this now and again). I felt so angry at God. How could He let this happen to me? I have served him with all that I know and am for as long as I can remember and he let me suffer horrifically. I really could not come to terms with that for a really really really long time. But, someone said once (I think it might have been Joyce Meyers www.joycemeyers.com) that God never promises us that we will not have hardship and suffering in this life, why heck we can probably guarantee that it will happen to everyone. But, He does promise that when you go through that hardship and suffering... you are not alone. He is there to hold your hand and walk with you. That is the difference between an unbeliever and a believer. When we come to Christ many of us think it will be hunky dory from here on out, no. That's not going to happen. But, he is there with us in the valley's, we are not alone.

Andrew with his wonderful wife Jessica