Storms and purpose

May the storms that we sail
Be ones that You've planned
That rise to your purpose
And fall at Your hand.


We met a woman with a broken heart yesterday.

     "I feel as though I can't breathe."
     "My child will always wonder, 'if my mom kept my two brothers, why couldn't she keep me?'  "
     "Am I doing the right thing?"
      "I called the church and told them I just needed someone to talk to.  I don't know anyone here."
    
    Her head was bowed most of the time, she rarely met our eyes, and she cried throughout much of the meeting.  When we got word yesterday that B had picked up her child from interim care and was going to parent;  that the church was rallying around her to support her financially so that she could parent her child---we knew it was for the best.   Yes--it's hard for us too----but I don't think that our pain even compares with B's.   B's pain upon separating with her child would have been the kind of pain that lasts a lifetime.....our pain is short-lived---it is the pain of waiting, anticipating---the pain of not knowing.  And   it will be changed to joy when we do meet the child that God intends for us to meet.  And with each of our encounters with a birthmother, a new face is added---a face that flashes through our minds in the evening when we pray.  And that is purpose enough for any storm.