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Worn.

It has been a long time since I've blogged. Our sweet princess V has been home just about 6 months now, and things are going incredibly well. She is blossoming, we all adore her, and life is good. I'll update more on her later.

Despite how incredibly well everything has gone, this has been one of the most exhausting times in our life. There are many factors, but it boils down to the fact that even incredibly amazing change is still stressful.

About the 5 month mark I became exhausted. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I made several trips with V within a short time period, and had to leave the other kids at home. Another big part was the sheer weight of all of the medical and educational decisions that we've made in the last 6 months. I was done. I needed rest. I was worn.

On the way home from the most recent trip, the song Worn came on. I thought - "Oh man, I need this song! I'm so worn!" I love this song. I've felt so worn many times, and it has always ministered to me.

I turned it up and sang along. "I'm tired, I'm worn... I know that you can give me rest...."

And then the chorus came on.

"Let me see redemption win,
let me know the struggle ends,
that you can mend a heart that's frail and worn.
I wanna know a song can rise from the ashes of a broken life"

And that's when I saw it. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked back into the back seat, and saw her  sitting there with a drink and bag of M&Ms, like a normal little girl. A child who couldn't feed herself 6 months ago sitting in the back seat of the car feeding herself the snack that she picked out by herself at the store.

I saw living, breathing proof that redemption wins. A heart learning to mend. Her smile is a testament to the song rising from a once broken life.



If you're in the trenches right now, if life has you bogged down, if there seems to be no end in sight, let me tell you this: redemption wins. Love wins. God wins.

I often think about how perfectly V fits into our family and how impossible it would've been for us to have found her. Only God could've led us to a specific little girl in an orphanage in a little village in a country we knew very little about. Only God could've chosen a child who fits so wonderfully into our family. Only God can bring the level of healing and learning that we've seen in V in the last 6 months. Only God could redeem her life in an institution and make it new, and He did. She may not have everything in the world, but she is free, she is loved deeply, and she has a bright future.

We serve a God of redemption.

In a world filled with darkness, redemption still wins.

If you every doubt it, remember V. She shows us what redemption looks like every day.

Thank you God for redeeming us all.



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