Encouragement in the Produce Aisle

I was shopping on Wednesday at my local grocery store. As I was contemplating the corn, a mother and her beautiful daughter chatted about competitor's corn prices. I tuned in and made my own observations. Having noted that her daughter was obviously Chinese, I took a risk and made a comment about adoption fitting into our already-tight budget. Her precious daughter piped up with enthusiasm, "Hey, I'm from China!" (At this point, I was totally choking back the tears. In the produce aisle.) As most adoptive moms are likely to do, she took the bait and we embarked on a lively discussion about adoption and how ours is going. While we chatted, we discovered that we are both born-again believers. All while counting our corn and bagging it in the produce aisle.

Now, I had just left home not twenty minutes earlier, in a full-blown rant about having to wait another two weeks and having our life on hold. My poor sons just sat there, dealing with their own feelings about the updates of our process and then I dumped my frustration on them too. I was feeling impatient, dangled, and totally out of sorts. My Lord knew that. And He met me there in the produce aisle, in the persons of this lovely mom and her beautiful daughter.

Turns out, this mom had two gorgeous Chinese daughters. She and her hubby adopted them several years ago when the process was clipping along at "waits" predicted to be about a year, sometimes less. In the middle of their first adoption, China shut the program down. They were left completely hanging. With no answers about when, or even if, they would actually see the daughter for whom their hearts had been longing. After all she'd been through, this sweet woman of God reassured me over and over that although the journey is long and hard, the Lord is in control and knows the perfect daughter for our family. He is sovereign and no mistake by a government worker is going to foil His plans for our family. She couldn't know it then (because I was doing an Academy-award winning performance of holding it together and acting normal in the produce aisle) but my spirit was so calmed and encouraged by her story and by her determined resolve was that this will work out. God will get the glory. He has it and us in His hands. We will stand in awe at how it comes together.

As we were parting ways, after exchanging email addresses, another mom tapped me on the shoulder and apologized for eavesdropping. There in the produce aisle, yet another mom encouraged me that God knows which children are mine and the tangled mess will work itself out. That the right child will find our homes, "because it is meant to be." She and her hubby had been through two domestic adoptions after years of infertility and a failed adoption attempt. Her sons are now grown, healthy men and "there were no other boys for (them). Period." They were THE ONES.

"Thank you, Lord, for meeting me in the produce aisle.
For showing Yourself in the persons of these two adoptive moms and this adorable little girl. Thank you for the visible, 'shake my hand and hug a stranger' encounters that remind me that You love me and have the best for me and my family. Thank you for calming my spirit and lifting my head. Thank you for loving me in spite of my rants and ravings. Thank you for encouraging me in the produce aisle.
Oh, and thank you for corn on the cob. It was so juicy and sweet and crisp. And now, it will always remind me of our sweet, heavenly encounter in the produce aisle."