After a long adoption process, my husband and I were finally awarded custody of our 16-month-old Ethiopian daughter. Now we needed a visa to get her home. Christmas was fast approaching, and I felt desperate to get back to our three kids in the States.
The US embassy was open until 11:30 a.m. that day, and our agency instructed me to email one more time, begging for an appointment. The internet was down in our guest house. With my daughter strapped to my chest, I hurried across the street to an internet café. The lady presiding over the business asked for a birr (about two cents) to use a computer, yet I had spent all my local currency. My wallet was empty, though thankfully I had credit cards that would get me home. Knowing nothing but Chapstick was in there, I thrust my hand into the pocket of my backpack. To my shock, I pulled out a birr. That morning we got a miracle appointment at the US Embassy and were on a plane the next day. We arrived home exactly one week before Christmas.
Years have passed since that frantic search for a tiny bit of Ethiopian money, but to this day, I keep a birr in the change purse of my wallet. I never want to forget the way God supplied my needs.
In Joshua 4, after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan river on dry ground, God instructed 12 men to pile rocks out of the riverbed as a memorial to what God had done (v.7). “When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’’” Joshua said to them, “then you shall tell them” (vv.6-7a).
Think back over this past year. In what ways has God come through for you and your family? What object could you place in your home to serve as a daily memorial to God’s faithfulness?
