Dictates of Man

Monday we received our apostilled, final approved home study.  I have to admit I was shaking when I opened the envelope.  This final home study has been a long time coming.  You know how it is when you want something so bad that you're almost afraid that it will never happen?  That's how things had gotten with our home study.  It seemed no matter what hoops we jumped through, it just wasn't enough. 

 

As I returned from the post office, having just mailed our home study to the next family who will be traveling to Eastern Europe, I was feeling somewhat giddy and thankful because we had finally received our home study exactly the way we wanted it and in accordance with the governing authorities of the country from which we are adopting.  Nothing more. Nothing less. Exactly what we needed.  There were no additional requirements from an agency which thought it could make decisions concerning our family and on behalf of the governing authorities!  Then it hit me!  

 

Our home study experience reminded me of how our relationship with our Lord and Savior should be. It should be a personal relationship. It should not be one full of dictates which are imposed by other's who think they know better than we!  We do not require, nor do we want, someone else in the middle trying to control the situation.  How could someone believe themselves wiser than a husband and wife who have prayerfully considered and are certain they are following the calling of God on their lives? We trust that He will lead us and guide us into all spiritual truths governed by the guidance of His holy Word and Holy Spirit.  We also trust that if it is not His will, He will not allow it to happen.   

 

I'm so glad our home study, like our relationship with our Savior, is exactly what we need with no additional dictates of man.   Those dictates were legalistic, controlling and not required.  They held us in bondage  to another's opinion - another's dictates.   All the grief, all the heart ache, all the jumping through hoops was not necessary.  Once we decided to go with another person who aligned their efforts with ours and the governing authorities, everything went smoothly and quickly.  Imagine that.  Matthew 11:30 says "My yoke is easy and My burden is light".  When we align ourselves with His will it's amazing how things fall into place.  In other words, if it don't fit, don't shove it.  I have a tendency to beat a dead horse long after everyone else has said walk away.  God allows me to put myself through situations now and then.  When I do, it makes me even more thankful when I come out on the other side and say "WOW! Look what God did!"

I'm so thankful for wisdom and new direction which has landed us exactly where we needed to be!

We're coming babies; we're almost there!