Future Grace

John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, and his wife Noel adopted a little African American baby girl. He was fifty when she was born. They had already raised their sons; they thought they were done parenting. Then someone called up Noel and said, there's this baby girl here. And I think she's supposed to be yours. Noel was game, but John... he wasn't so sure. It took him lots of time praying and seeking God before he knew that Talitha Ruth was their daughter.

And he said that what finally convinced him was his faith in God's future grace.

Faith in God's future grace means knowing and believing that not only is He sufficient to sustain you today, but that He will be sufficient still tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day, and the day after that. It is trusting that whatever comes up, His grace will still be enough.

I find this thought very comforting. We have been working through the 8-hour online Hague course we're required to take, and part of it outlines everything that could go wrong, both with the adoption process, and with the child herself. As we move forward with this adoption, there are so many unknowns:

When will we get our daughter?
Will the paperwork go through quickly, or will we hit many delays?
How old will she be?
What happened in her family to bring her to an orphanage?
Will she be ill?
Will she be developmentally delayed?
Will she have trouble attaching?
Will she have trouble as she grows up a black child with white parents?
Will she long for her homeland and feel like she doesn't belong?
What will God call us to, in calling us to her?

In a sense, it really doesn't matter. We know that there is a little girl waiting for us. In our eyes, she's already our daughter. We will go get her and bring her home, and we will trust in God's future grace to carry us through whatever comes next.

As He has always done.

As He will always do.