(ignore extra notes at end)
© Deborah Bolack 1996
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God gave you life, God gave you breath,
and for a time he’s given you to us.
You brought us joy right from the start.
For all time you’ll be in our hearts.
All things work together for good,
the Lord has promised in his word.
And in his plan we will put our trust,
for it was he who lent you to us.
We gave you love, we watched you grow,
and if in time, we have to let you go,
God will give peace; you’re in his hands.
In his time we will understand.
And so for the time you are here,
we’ll hold each moment precious and dear.
And thank the Lord for the time that we share,
and for entrusting you to our care.
God gave you life, God gave you breath,
and for a time he’s given you to us.
God gives us grace, you’re in his hands.
In his time we will understand.
In his time we will understand.
You are in his hands.
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Acts 17:25b, 28a seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
For in him we live, and move, and have our being;
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Psalm 28: 6,7 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
One day a little boy came to our home as an emergency placement. He was a scrawny little two and a half month old baby. We seldom had the opportunity to foster babies, so when given my choice between three siblings, I said we’d take the baby. It happened that we were also waiting for an adoption placement at the time, so we were only accepting short term emergency foster children. Two weeks quickly turned into two months, and then four months. By this time we had fallen in love with Justin, who we had somehow nicknamed ‘Gussy.’
When our agency heard that we had used the word ‘adopt,’ two social workers were promptly dispatched to our door to set us straight. We were told in no uncertain terms that it was highly unlikely that we would ever be allowed to adopt this baby, and that we should forget about it.
As much as I loved Gussy, I knew I needed to prepare my heart for whatever might happen. The only way to do that was to remind myself of who is in control. It wasn’t the social workers who had placed the baby, and it surely wasn’t us. It was God who brought Gussy to our home, and it was God who had a plan for his life. All he asked of us was to love this precious baby, and to care for him, for however long he stayed with us.
As it turned out, Justin did stay with us! It was a very long and difficult process, but shortly after he turned four years old, we were granted legal guardianship of Justin. God is good!
This song was my response to being told that we should not hold out hope of adopting Gussy. When it comes right down to it, this should be our response concerning all of our children. When the Lord blesses our lives with a child, we have no way of knowing how long we them. Whether through illness, a tragic accident, or some other circumstance, any one of our children can be taken from us. We need to cherish every moment we have with our children, and seek God’s wisdom for the part we have been given in his plan for their lives.
Amen to your faith-filled testimony!
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