He’s in Control— I’m Not

Dannah Gresh: When Randall and Rachel Payleitner first saw Gideon, their love for him was real. 

Randall Payleitner: I will do anything for you . . . and I’ve met you four seconds ago!

Dannah: . . . in spite of his behavior! 

Rachel Payleitner: I was like, “Oh, my goodness, he hates me!”

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, co-author of You Can Trust God to Write Your Story, for February 27, 2020. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I’m so thankful for the chance this week to talk with Randall and Rachel Payleitner. Randall and I go back a long way, a number of years, and Rachel I’m just getting to know. This is a precious couple who is sharing their story with us this week.

If you didn’t get to listen to yesterday’s program about their journey with infertility and international adoption, you want to go to ReviveOurHearts.com and pick that up. I had some really sweet moments in hearing them talk about God’s faithfulness to them in that part of their journey.

So, Rachel and Randall, thank you for being back with us here today on Revive Our Hearts.

Randall: Glad to be here. Thanks, Nancy.

Rachel: Thank you. Thanks for having us!

Nancy: Before we jump into the rest of your story, I just want to take a little parenthesis here. Randall, you serve with Moody Publishers, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

Randall: That’s right!

Nancy: And Revive Our Hearts and I recently celebrated our twenty years of publishing with Moody Publishers.

Randall: That’s right! Twenty years!

Nancy: How did that happen so fast? I don’t know!

Randall: I don’t know! Yeah!

Nancy: And about twenty books in that period of time . . .

Randall: That’s right, so many wonderful books! I remember my first year on the job or so was into that a little bit. I’ve been at Moody for about fifteen years. The first “Nancy” book that I had occasion to study and read—through a mutual friend of ours—was your Seeking Him study. 

I remember working through that, recognizing the depth and the value. At that point, it had already been selling quite well. I was quite aware of the fact that this was some wonderful material that was deep, practical, and interesting. 

Little did I know that I would get to work so closely with you and the wonderful team here at Revive Our Hearts for the next fifteen years—and hopefully for another many decades to come!

Nancy: A long time to come! Yes, you were talking about the Seeking Him study there, which has now been re-released in a new version just several months ago. And then you were also involved, as part of the team you lead there, in this later book You Can Trust God to Write Your Story. I know your team has been so excited with us about the release of that book!

People can’t imagine all that goes into getting a book from concept out into the marketplace!

Randall: That’s right! It’s so fun to be a part of the process of making books! And so, yes, every book really is a story—whether it’s literally a story, or it’s the story of making it. It takes a few years, and it’s quite gratifying to see it finally come, even as you were recording the audiobook.

Nancy: Yes, we did that not too long ago. You’re a part of all that process. People can’t imagine all that goes into it. I want to just say a huge “thank you” to you and all our friends over at Moody Publishers! This has been a really sweet partnership, fruitful. 

Anywhere I go, I meet people who talk about how God has used one or more of these books in their life, in their journey, in their story. It’s so gratifying! Many women read Lies Women Believe—or whatever—decades ago now, and now the next generation is reading and being influenced by some of these resources.

So, I’m grateful for the chance to say thank you for you and your leadership of that team and others who are part of that team. We really do love working with Moody, “The Name You Can Trust!”

Randall: Thank you. We try to live up to it! The thanks goes both ways; we’re delighted to be working with you. And on that book in particular, to see the stories come to life. It’s been a joy to read that one and be encouraged by it. Even as I read each story and enjoyed it, I was encouraged by it and have shared it. It’s neat to be able to be a part of it with you.

Nancy: We’re making that book available today, You Can Trust God to Write Your Story, to anyone who makes a donation of any amount to the ministry of Revive Our Hearts. When you support Revive Our Hearts, you’re making this ministry possible and helping it to spread into the hearts and lives and homes of women, not only in the United States, but around the world.

When you make a donation to Revive Our Hearts today, as our way of saying “thank you,” we want to send you a copy of You Can Trust God to Write Your Story—the first book that Robert and I have written together! We’re seeing God bring much fruit through that book already.

We’d love to send it to you. You can make that donation at ReviveOurHearts.com or you can call us at 1–800–569–5959. When you make your gift, just be sure and let us know that you’d like a copy of Robert and Nancy’s book, You Can Trust God to Write Your Story.

And it was a delight, Randall, as we were meeting at Moody a number of months ago, before the book actually came out, to hear of a story God was writing in your and Rachel’s lives. I said, “Would you guys be able to come over here some day and tell us more about that story?”

We started into that yesterday, about the journey with infertility, the process of adoption, and how the Lord brought your precious first son, Judah, into your home. I want to continue that story today, because there’s more still unfolding. Rachel, you now have Judah at home. You got him when he was sixteen months old, he became a part of your family.

Did you know at that point that you wanted to have another child?

Rachel: Yes!

Randall: Oh, yes!

Rachel: And, as we had spoken about yesterday, the ease of bringing him into our family made us very quickly want to turn around and start the adoption process again.

Nancy: So you stayed with the same agency that you’d used before, and you were going to continue with another international adoption?

Rachel: Yes.

Nancy: I assume a lot of the steps, you’d already done. Was it faster this time? How did it look different or the same the second time?

Rachel: We get that question all the time. It was the same the second time.

Randall: Yes, it was not faster, not slower. You fill out all the same forms. 

Rachel: We didn’t have to do a complete home study, we just updated the home study. So it took out a couple of meetings with our social worker in our home, but otherwise all the other paperwork was the same. 

Nancy: So you started into it again. Were you going to stay in China?

Rachel: Yes, Judah was from China, and we really liked the idea of him having a brother or sister who was also from China.

Nancy: So you were open to a boy or a girl?

Randall: Of course, yes.

Nancy: And you didn’t know what age. 

Randall: No, still on the younger end. You go to all these meetings and learn all these things. You generally want, if possible, the birth order to remain the same. So you’re looking for a child—open to a child, of course, whomever God would bring into our family, but—preferring a child who would be younger than Judah.

Nancy: So what was the experience like this time of hearing that you had a second child, that there was another child available?

Rachel: It was very similar to the first time. It kind of just takes your breath away! I believe the pictures came to me this time in an email, and there were pictures of him there right away. He just had the most beautiful, huge eyes, and the most beautiful face . . . a little boy. And it took my breath away!

Nancy: Was he in an orphanage?

Rachel: He was in an orphanage.

Nancy: Same with both your of your children?

Rachel: Yes, both boys were. Judah was in a very large orphanage in a big city. I want to say it had five- or six-hundred other children. And Gideon was from a small village, a very small orphanage. He was one of about twenty-five kids. 

Nancy: And did you know that there were physical issues with Gideon at the time? 

Rachel: His medical paperwork said that he had a mild heart condition, and he was developmentally delayed, so kind of globally delayed. He was not walking yet and not speaking yet or anything like that. He was around the same age as Judah had been, which was around a year old.

Randall: Yeah, which those things are not abnormal, given the circumstances, the environment. We were aware of some potential challenges, and we were open to lots of challenges. But at the point when we got the—they call it a referral—when you receive word that there’s a child waiting for you, you begin the process. Rather than it being a general adoption process, you begin this, “We are now headed to the country at this point, for this particular child.” 

We were aware of some of the challenges, but as is often the case, no matter how a child comes into your family (biological or adoptive), you’re not always aware of all the challenges that may come.

Nancy: No parent is ever aware of all the challenges that may come, right!?

Randall: That’s right! That’s not how God designed it. 

Nancy: So roughly two years after your first trip to China, you were headed back. Did Judah go with you?

Rachel: Judah did not. He stayed here with family and some good friends.

Randall: Yeah, bringing Judah (he was around three or so at that point) . . . We received coaching both ways. It was more difficult for us than it was for him. Being away from our son for two weeks was very difficult. I’d say it was among the most, if not the most, difficult part of that second journey.

But we wanted to give as much attention as possible to our second son in those first critical few weeks when we were with him. And we knew, of course, that Judah was in great hands with family and good friends.

Nancy: And did you name Gideon before you went to China?

Rachel: We did. We had a video of Gideon, and he was kind of sitting funny. I woke up in the middle of the night one night, and I just had this feeling that, “I think he’s got something serious going on, and I’m not sure what it is.” I shared it with Randall, and so from that moment on we were kind of steeling ourselves for . . .

Randall: “This is going to be different.”

Rachel: . . . and potentially much more challenging than our first adoption.

Randall: That was months before we went to China. We had only seen a few photos and a few short videos. However it came about, Rachel had kind of seen this, and it was pretty clear that something was going on, but we did not know what it was.

Rachel: And, similar to how we did with Judah, we kind of played around with some names. And then Randall, I believe, one day was like, “What about Gideon?” And I was like, “We-e-ell, I don’t know. I mean, that name’s a little out there.”

Randall: We already have kind of a hard last name.

Nancy: Payleitner.

Randall: Could we give this poor kid a six-syllable name? Yeah.

Rachel: I’d never even heard of anybody named Gideon before. And he was like, “I think it’s Gideon. His name’s Gideon!” I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story of “Gideon:” “Mighty Warrior!”

Nancy: Yes, and this child is going to be a mighty warrior.

Rachel: Oh, yes! He already is.

Randall: And he was then, and we didn’t even know him.

Nancy: The Lord knew; He was writing his story.

Randall: That’s what He does!

Nancy: So when you went to China, was it similar to the first time. . .that they just brought the child and deposited him with you? Was there anything different this time? 

Randall: On some levels it was all very similar, but from the moment that we arrived in town and they brought Gideon to us. It was more of a governmental office situation than it was at the hotel lobby. But, still, very unceremonious. However you might picture it, it’s less romantic!

It was like, “Here you go!” And we’re like, “Oh, I guess this is it!” And, at that point, we had been parents for two years, so as with most parents who have been parents for two years, we were like, “We got this! It’s no problem!” We were feeling pretty good. I wouldn’t say prideful, but maybe just short of that.

And God answers prayers for humility pretty regularly, and He did so in our lives there, so we received Gideon. It was pretty clear pretty quickly that he was our son!

Nancy: How was that clear? Did you just know?

Randall: You know, I don’t know! I imagine it’s the same as when you’re in a hospital and they hand you your kid. You say, “I will do anything for you!—and I’ve met you four seconds ago!” Same idea, absolutely; no question about it, he was our son!

Nancy: Rachel, did you feel that as a mother?

Rachel: Yes. And it’s something that only God can do that to our hearts. This screaming, crying, a very large child—just completely the opposite of Judah. He was put in my arms. And I’m like, “Oh, my goodness! He hates me!” 

He was pulling away, crying and thrashing. He wanted nothing to do with us! But we did not put him down, didn’t put him down, couldn’t put him down.

Nancy: And you had no second thoughts. “This is my child!”

Rachel: Never a second thought about that. 

Nancy: So the acting out, the screaming/crying, did that continue for a while? 

Rachel: It continued for about a year.

Nancy: So not just in China?

Randall: No!

Nancy: What was the trip home like?

Rachel: It was awful!

Randall: Very awkward! We couldn’t laugh about it for a couple years, Nancy, but we can now.

Rachel: We can laugh about it now.

Randall: It was very difficult! If you had a sixty-minute bonus podcast you wanted to do about our thirty-hour trip home, I’m not sure that we’d have too many listeners! But, yeah, it was a very difficult trek back home. We were in-country for about two weeks after we got Gideon. Again, that’s a lot of state paperwork and a lot of American passport things, so that’s all planned.

The trip is planned by the hour, months in advance, so we had the beginning and end time for our trip, long in advance. But we were, as parents of our three-year-old son at home and our new one-year-old son here with us, we very much just wanted to be home! 

We were missing our older son Judah every day. And again, he was fine. He was good to go!

Rachel: He was having a good time! 

Randall: But we were having a hard time, and then with Gideon, just with his struggles. He was kind of more aware of what was going on, even though we didn’t have any words to put to it. It was very difficult. We could tell he just had more going on, more physical difficulties, and developmental.

Rachel: Yes, physically and emotionally. He just was very afraid.

Randall: Yes, he was unstable emotionally.

Rachel: He was very unstable emotionally. He wasn’t sleeping; he wasn’t really eating a lot.

Randall: We also weren’t sleeping or eating a lot!

Nancy: Of course!

Rachel: He couldn’t hold his own body weight up. He couldn’t sit up without help or something to hold on to.

Randall: Yes, and he was sixteen months old. 

Rachel: He was kind of like this sack of potatoes, just very heavy in your arms. So trying to carry him around was very laborious. It was just a very difficult time in-country, and we just wanted to bring him home and settle him into a safe place. 

Nancy: And yet, once you got him home, you realized that there were still some issues, but you didn’t know what they were. 

Rachel: No, we didn’t know what they were.

Randall: We took him to all kinds of doctors to start with. The first concern actually was his heart condition, but that turned out to have kind of healed itself. So that was certainly an answer to prayer, that the difficulties with his heart healed. They were real; we had the medical paperwork about that.

But that happens pretty often with young kids that have minor heart conditions; they correct themselves in their first year or two of life, and that’s what happened with Gideon. So his heart issues are no longer a concern.

But again, it became apparent that physically he was very stiff and unable to really bear his own weight, and he was not progressing. Our older son, when we brought him home, was delayed a bit, but he quickly caught up.

Rachel: Very quickly.

Randall: With Gideon, that wasn’t happening, so whatever hope we had for it merely being environmental or lack of opportunity, wasn’t the case.

Nancy: So more doctors, more tests. When did you find out more about what some of the issues were?

Rachel: We had started almost right away, working with several therapists through the early intervention program and just kind of exploring . . . Especially with a kid who comes from an institution, there is typically a delay in development. And as Randall said, our older son very quickly caught up.

So we were kind of just waiting to see, “Is he catching up?” From the first day we brought him home, he did make small, tiny little baby steps forward, which gave us hope, but it was very slow and drawn out. So we worked with multiple therapists for a little over a year. 

Finally, one of them said, “You should see a neurologist and get an MRI, and just try and figure out exactly what it is that is causing him to not be able to catch up to where he should be.”

Randall: So we did. We went to a neurologist and got an MRI. We got a few different opinions, and Gideon was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. So what that looked like for us was a whole new world of words and vernacular and therapies. And we understood the fact that this wasn’t something you grow out of, it wasn’t something that could really be corrected. 

On the flip side, it was something that we could now know what we were dealing with. So while at once it was devastating news, it was also a road to drive on, a plan to follow. It opened up new doors of experience and understanding . . . and a new life.

Nancy: Which eventually resulted in a pretty major surgery, right?

Rachel: Yes, so he has spastic diplegia. It’s the type of cerebral palsy he has. It basically means the signals from the brain are getting mixed, and essentially they are contracting his opposing muscles. So to be able to move with fluidity while you’re walking, if your quadricep tightens, your hamstring releases and vice versa. But his is kind of just always contracted, front and back—particularly with his legs. He’s mostly affected in his legs, a little bit in his core, and mildly in his hands. And it’s more pronounced on one side.

Nancy: You’ve got an education. This isn’t something they taught you in your interior design classes!

Rachel: Oh, no! Yes, lots of education from wonderful doctors, a wonderful team of therapists . . . and Google.

Randall: Yeah, Google! And even as he was almost three years old, he wasn’t walking or able to bear his own weight, so that’s where we were at. He was in his late twos, almost three years old, and we’re getting this diagnosis. He’s now four years old, but right before he turned four, he had this surgery that really helped free up some of the bad signals that were being sent from his brain down to his nerves and affecting his muscles.

What this surgery helped him to be able to do is he is now able to walk. He had a walker that he would kind of use to get around in a very stilted way, but now he’s able to walk!

Our older son has been praying for him, for several years, to be able to walk and run and jump!

Rachel: Every day. Many times a day!

Randall: Every day, still. That’s his prayer.

Nancy: Judah prays this? And does he pray it out loud? Do you hear him say this?

Rachel: Oh, yes!

Randall: Oh, every day. We didn’t tell him to pray that. He just knows that his brother has some struggles. He’s prayed for him for a year-and-a-half, maybe two years now. Our six-year-old son praying for our now-four-year-old son: “Dear God, help Gideon to walk and run and jump.” And now he’s added, “and ride a bike, like me.”

“Can he walk, run, jump, and ride a bike, like me?” And Gideon now walks, and he does a little bit of running.

Rachel: And he tries jumping. We’re not quite at the riding bikes yet. But Judah, our son, has taught us to pray, because we didn’t even know to pray that prayer. Yet another instance of God writing our story, and in this case using our six-year-old (even then, our four- and five-year-old to teach us to trust God). When we were having a difficult time even seeing ten minutes into the future, Judah was praying for one and two and three years into the future. Through all of this, our younger son, Gideon, has just the most wonderful demeanor, wonderful smile, joy-filled, God-Spirit breathing out of him, great kid! Full of joy!

Randall: Both our sons have changed our lives in a way that we wouldn’t have even known to ask, to ask God to bless us in that way! 

Nancy: We talk in You Can Trust God to Write Your Story about how the story that God is writing in us is transformational, how it’s intended to change us. How would you describe some of the ways the Lord changed you in the process of this story . . . which, I realize is not over! It’s still being written—as is true for every parent, every person. How are you different today?

Rachel: I think one of the things we came face to face with, in the earlier part of story with infertility, was how little we actually have control! We are both people who like to be in control, or at least like to feel like we are in control. And through not being able to conceive and have children biologically, we realized that God is in control.

And not only is He in control, but He is writing our story with love. He wants good for us, even if it is not exactly how we would have chosen to experience His goodness. Especially now with Gideon’s story . . . I’m sure with any parent, when you bring a child into your family—no matter how they come to be part of your family—you realize, “Wow, I don’t have control over when they sleep, when they are tired, when they’re hungry, when they have to go to the bathroom, even when you’re running late.”

Randall: . . . when all they want to do is eat chips. 

Rachel: . . . when they only like chips!

Randall: Hypothetical!

Nancy: You’re talking about a friend.

Randall: Yeah, yeah . . . a four-year-old that I know.

Rachel: And I feel like, personally, I’m not always great at relinquishing control, but I’m very often reminded that I don’t have to be in control I’m reminded that God has us, He has me, and certainly my boys, all of them . . .even the big one!

Randall: Yes, I’d say I agree with everything Rachel just said, obviously. We talk about this pretty often, that the idea of trusting God is something that we must do, and it’s something we’ve always done. But I guess it’s like (I don’t know, what’s a good metaphor?): You trust a boat, but when you’re in a storm, you’ve really got to trust the boat! And that’s what we’re doing here.

So it’s trusting God, it is recognizing that He really does. There’s some hard stuff, and He really does know what we can handle. He really does have our best interest in mind—even though this is completely different than we thought it would go ten years ago! It’s not even close . . . and it’s better! It’s harder! But it’s better.

Nancy: I love that. I love something that you wrote, Randall, when I just asked you to send me a few thoughts about your story. You sent me an email, and you said, “We’ve certainly had twists and turns we didn’t expect, and He has blessed us so much! We honestly wouldn’t want it any other way. God has been faithful to us, and He has cared for us in ways we didn’t even know to ask.”

That’s a sweet thing to be able to say, for any of us, as we reflect on what God has done, including the hard things. “We honestly wouldn’t want it any other way.” How can you say that? Why do you say that?

Randall: I don’t know how we can say it, other than God’s faithfulness. But why do I say it? It’s true! I look at my wife. I look at the mother that she is, the wife that I’ve been so blessed to have, our two sons who are an amazing blessing in our lives. I hope they listen to this someday. It’s true, guys! We love you so much! And we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Tell me another way that I want it. It’s not true. This is it. In addition, one other thing I wanted to say on how we’re changed. We have a Payleitner family creed that we talk about sometimes. It’s hanging in our dining room. And one of the ways especially in the last two years, even having a second kid, however that came to be and whatever challenges any parent might face . . .

Nancy: That changes a lot!

Randall: You know, two parents, one kid, hey, that’s all fun and games! Then two parents, two kids . . . and I understand two parents, three kids, zone defense is a whole other situation! The Payleitner family creed that we have there hanging is: “We choose slow, calm, and purposeful over rushed, chaotic, and reactive.” 

And those words are all purposeful, even if we have a difficult time doing it. We’re not always successful at doing it. In these moments, in these difficulties, in the successes and the challenges, we’ve really been able to see God’s faithfulness to us in the slow, calm, and purposeful.

All you’ve got to do is look around and see how rushed, chaotic, and reactive everything is—from the outside world to the traffic, to social media, to anything!

Nancy: And you could be that way, given the circumstances of your life.

Randall: Oh, yes! That’s right, and that would be our default, I think: rushed, chaotic, and reactive. If you don’t try to not do that, that’s all you’ll be. And so, whether that’s because it takes us longer as a family to get around . . .

Rachel: . . . and it does! 

Randall: Both Rachel and I would rather go faster! That’s our natural predisposition. If we can choose the slow, calm, and purposeful, then you can have the “quality time” actually be quality! Then you can have those life lessons really be there. Then you can choose to choose this activity over these three activities.

That’s how we’re choosing to live our lives, and how we’re trying to be the best parents and husband and wife that we can be. We’re no experts! Our children are six and four. So you need to get some other parents who’ve been at it for ten and twenty and forty years here, to tell us that we don’t even know what we’re talking about yet . . . and they’d be right.

But as far as whatever chapter of the story we’re on now, God is writing it, and He’s writing it better than we even knew to ask!

Nancy: I know that, for each of your boys, you selected a Scripture that you’ve prayed for them and over them, maybe with them. Can you tell us about that, Rachel?

Rachel: Yes, so for Judah, we chose for him Joshua chapter 1, verse 9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” We chose that verse for him, I think, for a lot of reasons.

He is a kid who is curious and always going places, and we want him to know now and as he gets older and he starts to understand more of his story and where he came from and how he came to be part of our family, that God was with him every moment and still is, and always will be.

Randall: Yeah. And he’s so smart! And to be strong and courageous in addition to those things . . . that’s right.

Nancy: So do you pray this verse or share this verse with him? Does he hear you say it?

Randall: Yes, I would say it’s not a daily thing, necessarily, but he’s aware of the fact that this is something that we’ve been praying for him. And obviously, it has a specific spot in the book of Joshua, where God first inspired it.

But as we’re teaching our children the truths of what God has for them and how God made them and what God is doing in their lives, these are things that could and should be prayed for every kid. But as we’ve gotten to know Judah as a young man, and as he’s trusted Christ, to talk about courage, trust,those are the types of things that we see him having an influence on, in his world, in the next hundred years.

Rachel: And he has worked on memorizing this verse this year.

Nancy: So it’s giving him a vision for his life and for God’s calling in his life.

Randall: That’s right.

Nancy: What is your verse for Gideon?

Rachel: For Gideon it’s 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 9 and 10: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

And, for many reasons, that one seems obvious for Gideon. He is weak in a lot of ways.

Randall: That’s right. But he is so strong!

Rachel: But he is so strong! 

Randall: He has courage, he has might, just like his name would imply. It’s been so neat to see someone who when you might see him from ten feet away, you might think, Oh, that little boy has so many difficulties.

And then you get to know him and see what he’s overcome, what he will have to overcome, and you see God’s strength and power in him, not only as His image-bearer (as we all are), but also the type of person and the little boy that God has created him to be . . . He’s such an encouragement to everyone he knows.

Nancy: And what wonderful verses for you as parents. In parenting, no matter how your children come to you, you need courage, you need God’s strength, you need the assurance of God’s presence. You need the assurance that God’s grace is sufficient, because not only may your children have weakness, especially if they have physical challenges . . .

What parent doesn’t feel their own weakness, and what person doesn’t feel their own weakness? That reminder, not only for your children but for you, that when you are weak, He is strong. These hard things—infirmities, weaknesses, trials, adversities—anything that makes us need God is a blessing, right?

Randall: That’s right. It doesn’t always feel like it; often it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, but that’s right. If I’m weak and He’s strong and He’s strong in my life, that’s what I want, isn’t it?

Nancy: Yes. We asked your son if he would record that verse for us, and we were able to get that. So, here’s Judah.

Judah Payleitner: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 NIV). 

Nancy: That’s Judah, your oldest son, reciting the verse that God put on your heart for him and for his life.

Randall: Thanks, Buddy!

Nancy: And he can only begin to know, now, what he will know much more fully in the years to come, how real that verse and those truths can be in his life.

Randall: That’s right!

Dannah: Okay, now that just melts my heart! You know, bringing children into your family through adoption is an expression of the compassion of God. And “compassion” is the theme of the upcoming True Woman Conference. It will be this fall in Indianapolis, and registration is now open for True Woman 2020.

The gospels tell us that Jesus was moved by compassion when He saw the crowds of needy people who were like sheep without a shepherd (see Mark 6:34). We hope that you’re moved by the compassion of God to reach out and meet the needs of others. That may not mean adoption for you, although it might.

For more information about the True Woman 2020 conference coming up toward the end of September, go to ReviveOurHearts.com or call us at 1–800–569–5959. 

So have you ever wondered how you could encourage someone who has adopted a child with special needs? That’s something Randall and Rachel will talk about tomorrow. I’m Dannah Gresh. Thanks for joining us today! Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

Reminding you who is really in control, Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.