For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. (Job 5:6-7 ESV)
One of the meanest friends in world history uttered the phrase above and nearly lost his life for doing so. Pulled out of one fork-tongued mouth and put into the hands of the godly, it becomes medicine:
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:11 ESV)
Just standard trouble, normal sadness, regular pain and difficulty. And today was the day that good desires were wiped away by that trouble. The Ethiopian government has been on a lengthy deliberate plan to slow down the international adoptions of their smallest children, which had caused our own pursuit of 2 little ones to slow to the pace of an uphill rolling anvil. The difficulty of the progress and the unlikelihood of change in the near future has caused our agency to do like many others and close their Ethiopian program.
That effectively means: "We're dead in the water." We've already used up all of our African transfers as we were originally in Ghana (which closed) and other programs also closed. So pray for our family as we think through these sad things and try to figure out new possible places, the loss of the financials, and other possibilities. In our own sadness, (however small it may be compared to much greater sufferings) a hope of doing something that pleased the Maker was taken away, and little ones are hurt for it.
So here's to the future of sadness undone. Little ones given justice and good works in full blossom. Until that day weighty glory is shown, every sadness will seem light on the scales. To the one who has already began to unravel sadness on an Easter morning long ago. He is reminding the Andersons that he has already begun the unraveling in them.
