I believe; help my unbelief!*

I have been waiting to write this post and share this news with you for a couple of weeks. Read on and see that the Lord is GOOD, and we are blessed to take refuge in Him and call Him father.
On June 14, I asked our Facebook adoption group to pray that God would gift us a vehicle. That's right, you heard me. I didn't ask for ours to be repaired or for us to find a good deal. [I asked that later when my faith faltered.] I asked for a vehicle to be all but plopped in our lap.
Before you get the idea that Chad and I sit back these days and swim in dolla bills Scrooge McDuck style as donations and art sales roll in, I want to explain why I asked for such a prayer and why I prayed it myself. 
First, I believe the Holy Spirit led me to pray for a vehicle, not from a place of greed or even comfort. I think He led me to that prayer (request) because God wanted to work His good pleasure for His glory. I believe He had a tremendous blessing waiting for us; we simply needed to ask. And trust. And wait.
Secondly, we needed a new/different vehicle. Chad's car was too small for when we bring the kids home. Plus, it's 21 years old. It's worth less than the maintenance costs to keep it running. We take our needs to God. So I prayed.
If you know us personally, you know Chad and I drive old cars - which we are thankful for - as a way to steward our resources and not expend a monthly car payment. If you have a nice, new car, I am in NO WAY criticizing that. But, for us, cars are an area where we feel led to forego luxury. We once took a Crown financial class and, through that process, came to the agreement that car payments weren't going to be part of our month-to-month for now. I'll pay five dollars for a quality chocolate bar, but vehicles are another story. That could change next year or in ten years. This is what obedience looks like for us. Obedience looks different for everyone.
You may be wondering - Christa, if you cannot afford to buy a reliable vehicle, then do you really have any business adopting two more kids? You'll have to pay for that process plus provide for them once they're home. Do you have enough money for that?
Fun fact about adoption: some of the earliest paperwork in your home study requires you to turn in tax records and copies of pay checks to see if adopting is a viable financial option for you. If, at any time during the process, you make major financial changes to your month-end, i.e. change jobs, move, buy a vehicle, then you must report that. The change can set you back months in your process. Yes, we could have purchased a new vehicle. But that would have seriously impacted when Lolo and Lala can come home. We do have a good bit of money saved from donations and our own money that we could use to buy a cheap car to get us through till next year. But that money is designated for agency fees, the next of which is about $6,000 and due next week.
Also, I just knew (remember in earlier posts how I said Jesus talks to me pretty loud and clear about big stuff most of the time?) that God would provide another way.
So on June 14th, I posted the following to our adoption Facebook group asking for people to pray that God would gift us a vehicle:

At the time, I 100% expected someone to comment on this post within a week and say, "God told me to give you my car. Come get it!" If you just chuckled, I understand. But such things have happened to us along our journey. I believed.
But no such comment appeared.
By mid July we still needed a car. And the situation worsened when Chad's car battery welded itself to his engine and tried to catch fire. Several times. It has literally been held together by zip ties for the past few weeks. That, combined with the stress of fundraising, buried my belief; my faith, once loud and strong, collapsed on itself a la black hole formation. God wasn't moving. No one drove a Sequoia into our driveway with a big red bow on it. In my foolishness I decided since God wasn't getting it done, I was going to have to take care of things myself. *rolls eyes* Yes, I should know better by now. Sanctification is a process, amiright? Amiright?
I posted to Facebook again, this time more desperately:

Can you see the numbers on that screenshot? Over 100 people saw this post. And I am sure that many of them prayed, which is the BEST response. But on my end? Silence. Nothing. No comments or offers.
I started a craigslist hunt. I found a too-good-to-be-true price on a 4Runner. I messaged the seller, explained our situation, and asked him to give it to us for pennies. He actually replied kindly. I'd like to mention that when I called Chad to tell him I had done this, lightning literally struck in front of our house. A sign? Maybe. Anyway, the 4Runner conversation fell silent. The next day was Saturday. We had some free time that afternoon. We decided to go test drive a new Highlander. We knew we couldn't buy it before Christmas. But we wanted to drive a couple of cars and narrow down our choices for when the time came. We drove it. It was nice. We came home and, for reasons I cannot explain, had very little desire to buy it. 
I prayed again, led by the Holy Spirit, and just asked for God's mercy, for His protection over us, for help. There are two prayers I pray often: teach me to pray and help my unbelief. I don't even know if I said those words out loud that night. I just knew that this problem was beyond our control. Everything is, really. And my role was to submit to God's authority, which meant waiting.

I abandoned my mission to (try to) solve our vehicle problem.
Are you ready? Are you ready to hear how great is our God? When I prayed the first time that God would gift us a vehicle, I believed He would. But that belief waned when He didn't bow to MY schedule. Yet, despite my unbelief and my impatience, He remains faithful.
On Sunday, July 15th, the day after our Highlander test drive, I was walking down the hall at church when an acquaintance stopped me and asked if we were looking for a vehicle. It went a little something like this:
Ladyfriend: Did I see on Facebook or somewhere that you guys were looking for a car? Or needed a car?
Me: Yes. 
LF: Great! We have this car that we were going to sell. Do you mind if it's older?
Me: Not at all. We just need to fit at least six people in it.
LF: This will fit six.
Me: How much are you looking to sell it for?
LF: (smiles and laughs very kindly) Oh, no, we want to give it to you.
Me: Wait, what?
LF: Yeah, we want to give it to you. We just need to get it cleaned up and ready. Do you want to come over to our house today and drive it?
Me: various response including hug, crying, 'yes,' and gasps of shock
LF: Great! See you later.

Yep. You read it. He did it. Not because I prayed. Not because we deserve it. But because providing a car for us for free - for whatever reason exists in His infinite knowledge - was His good pleasure. Because He keeps His promises.

Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
James 1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.

I implore you - take your needs, your fears, your desires to God in prayer. And wait . . . longer than I was willing to wait, which was about a month.
And if you do not know the Creator God of the universe personally through His son, Jesus Christ, who loves you and died for you - go to Him in prayer. Ask Him to meet you there and reveal Himself to you.

So, yeah . . . someone gave us a car. We drove it home today. And the most beautiful thing about it is not the car itself, or even how much better I will sleep at night knowing that Chad isn't driving around with an engine held together BY ZIP TIES. What is so beautiful to me, in so much of this process, is how God is using His kingdom. He is providing for His people through His people. 

Rejoice with us this week! Just in time for school to start back, our dossier has been finalized and we have a new (to us) car. 
The dossier was the last requirement for matching. Some time in the next two weeks, the orphanage where Lolo and Lala live should notify our agency and officially match us with our kids. That means they will find out that they are being adopted! As of now, we know they are ours, but they don't know it. We are so excited to move into this part of the timeline. 

Thank you - a million times over - for everything. We can never repay you enough or thank you enough for all you have done. May God bless you.

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! 

37:4 Then you will take delight in the Lord, 

and he will answer your prayers. 

37:5 Commit your future to the Lord!

Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf.

37:6 He will vindicate you in broad daylight,

and publicly defend your just cause.

37:7 Wait patiently for the Lord!

Wait confidently for him!

Love and hugs,
Christa


*Mark 9:24