Letting Go

Dear Family and Friends,
I’m writing to let you know that we are in the process of transitioning baby Garrett from our home to a new foster family that will plan to adopt him if Kara’s parental rights are severed.
I’m writing to ask for prayer for all of us during this process.
As you can imagine, ALL of us have gotten very attached to this baby love bug and we love him very much. We are trusting that this new family (Todd and Jennifer Wright, and son Matthew, age 6) will give him all the love and attention that he needs!
Please pray for us in the weeks ahead as we adjust to not having him… And pray for the Wrights as they adjust to having him!
We are beyond grateful that this family attends our church and we will see Baby regularly. They are totally supportive of us continuing to be involved in his life, and my parents also… Also his biological grandparents and extended family! This is such a gift. We are so thankful that we will be able to watch baby Garrett grow up.
We are still amazed at how God orchestrated this time for our family to foster baby Garrett.
It is a blessing that God used our family as a vessel to transfer Garrett from Kara’s care to Jennifer and Todd’s care—he used us to bridge the gap.
God asked every one of our family members to make different sacrifices so that baby Garrett’s needs would be met at our house.
As I have sacrificed sleep and energy and even some activities, I feel the biggest sacrifice for me is letting baby Garrett go. However, God has different plans for our family… As our plate is full with junior high and high school and college activities soon:)! If you would, please pray for me specifically that God would bring comfort to my heart as baby Garrett gets settled with his new mom and dad.
Please also keep Garrett’s biological family in your prayers. Pray for his mom and dad (Kara and Garrett) —pray for their safety and mental health as this time is super difficult for them. Would you also pray that God will deliver them from any lies that they are believing… And that they would be set free to seek and find Jesus and embrace the new life that God has to offer them. Pray for Garrett’s big sister Marissa, for her safety and salvation. Please also pray for Madison, Garrett’s 11-year-old sister who will continue to live with Kara’s parents. Madison will continue to have visits with baby Garrett at the Wright’s home :-).

with baby Garrett

It would not be right for me to end without sharing what the Lord is teaching me personally through this experience: for some reason, last week it hit me that I was like Israel asking for a king (1 Samuel 8). I have been asking God to give our family another baby for 13 years. I believe he finally relented. He granted my request.
I have always banked on the verse “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4), and I believe that God showed his love to me by granting me this desire of my heart. I have treasured all of these weeks with this precious baby–I have given him 100% of me, just like I did our other three. But in God giving me the desire of my heart, he also showed me that there is a greater desire–The desire to be a blessing to my husband and have a great marriage and fully enjoy the three (teenagers) that He has given to us! They have all been gracious to share my time with baby Garrett and they love him too, but they will also be happy to have Mom back!
In Gods perfect grace, He gave me the desire of my heart… At the same time, revealed how my desire was not His (best) will for our family, and ultimately He changed the desire of my heart! Because of God changing my heart, I am able to fully embrace God’s plan for Garrett and completely support his adoption into the Wright family, Lord willing.

As I submit to God’s plan for me (and baby Garrett), I am blessed. As I sacrifice my desire for Bill’s desire, (in God’s strength) I reflect God’s love: John 15:13– “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

God has been gracious to change this desire of my heart… So the desire (for another baby) can no longer be an idol in my life… I will no longer be bugging him for a king… When I know my King is with me and He will withhold no good thing. At the same time, as I receive God’s plan for me, I am letting go of resentment and bitterness that built up over 13 years of idolatry. I am excited to see what God can do in our marriage and family with that out-of-the-way!

Cheers To 2017, and to God knocking down any desires you might have elevated to worship, instead of exclusively seeking Him alone.

Thank you for walking and praying through this Journey with our family. Please continue to pray for God’s hand over baby Garrett’s life in the months and years ahead. To God be the glory!

I’d like to leave you with a devotion in Oswald Chambers I read one recent morning:
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February 6
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)
I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . . -2 Timothy 4:6

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents-burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?

Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.

For Christ and His Kingdom,

Jodi, for the Meiter Family