Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Sometimes, I just stand (or sit) in awe of the Lord and how His plans for my life are so much different than mine, yet so much better.
Two years ago today, my boss and one of my dearest friends got married. I remember that day like it was yesterday. All the weeks and months of planning; all the sweet memories that were made; all the details; all the fun. Just soon after I was in San Diego, ready to embark on my junior year of high school, not knowing what the year would hold, not imagining any of it.
One year ago today, I don’t remember quite as well. But, last summer I do. I went to camp, dreading the year that was to come. I honestly had nothing to look forward to; I was so ready to be done with high school and get out of Augusta.
Wow. The things that have taken place in my life in just one year truly blow me away.
The start of senior year–senior retreat, old friendships rekindled, new ones made. Just a day after we get back, I e-mail my BD (birth dad). When I look back on those days, those days of my first conversations via e-mail with my BD, I am again in awe of what the Lord did. I never thought I would ever meet him, ever talk to him, let alone develop a relationship with him.
That’s what blows me away the most right now. I just spent a week in Alabama with my BD and his family. If anyone would have told me that I would be doing that a year ago, even four months ago, I would have slapped you silly. But, I did. And the coolest thing is, he’s not replacing my dad. He’s not trying to make me have a relationship with him that is any better than my relationship with the man who has loved me and poured into me for the past 18 years. He’s not even trying to be my “dad”. He’s just being himself. He says it a lot–this is “different”, not bad, just “different”. And that’s what it truly is–“different“.
I didn’t think my heart could grow big enough to let “two” dads be apart of my life. I have an excellent dad, my “Daddy”. He does it all for me. He loves me, takes care of me, protects me, shows me what a godly man looks like, and is an example of Christ to me every single day. I couldn’t ask for a better “Daddy”. But, I get another “Dad”. He shows me new things, a whole different life, what could have been. He shows me about me, things that are completely different from my Daddy and Momma, things that they couldn’t have given me because we don’t share the same DNA. Things that are different. Things that make me who I am today, even though I only met this man less than a year ago. He shows me things that play into my character, into my life, into my very being…things that I had never thought about before until I met him.
I didn’t really know how to balance my adoptive family–my family–and my new , biological family. I didn’t know how to maintain two whole different groups of people who love me, but I have, now in a way, one, new, big family. I have my Momma and Daddy. I also have a BD. He’s passed down things to me that have made me who I am. So has my Daddy.
I would have never imagined that the Lord would have placed these people in my life, these sweet people who have the same genes, the same DNA as me. I never could have dreamed in a billion years that I would have a relationship with my own flesh and blood until I had kids. But, the Lord provides exactly what it is we need. Right now, I need a relationship with my Momma, my Daddy, and my BD.
The Lord has truly turned things good for me because I love Him and because He has called me according to HIS purpose.
embracing today 