Delayed Flights and Divine Appointments

I am home from El Paso Texas. It has taken me a few days to recover from my sleep deprivation but I came home from my trip with an amazing testimony. I have already shared my testimony with MANY of my friends and last night Joel said--- "Amy--- you have to blog that story.....it's amazing!" So here I am and here I go.

I have never fasted much. Over the last several months the Lord has been teaching me about fasting and praying and there have been several times that I've fasted through a meal to pray over our children or certain situations, but never longer than one meal time. Well-- God impressed upon my heart that I should fast and pray over our upcoming housing at Ft. Bliss. So I began fasting on Monday night and had committed to fasting and praying through Tuesday and until Wednesday when I met with the housing office at Ft. Bliss to determine our upcoming housing plan. BTW--- self denial does not come easily to me and it is even harder in an airport with tons of time to kill and lots of restaurants right there! I struggled and prayed and really struggled and really prayed and God was so good to me!!

I woke at 600am on Tuesday to go to the airport. I got a call from the airline at 700 that my flight had been cancelled and I was being re-scheduled! I was grumpy about it but also thankful they had called me before I arrived to the airport! So I spent the morning with my family :) and then went to catch my flight. I ended up having a 4 hour lay-over b/c of the airline issues. Again-- I was a little grumpy about this (and also hungry because I am fasting) but I spent this time praying and reading scripture and seeking God in the USO at the Denver airport!! I got on my second flight and was seated next to a young black man who looked of Ethiopian descent to me. Now- I didn't want to ask-- "Are you an Ethiopian?" As that might have been offensive to some but I did want to know!! After initial pleasantries, I did ask him if he lived in El Paso or was just visiting. He said that he did live there but only for the last year. "Oh--- well, where did you live before that?" Las Vegas for two years. "Oh--- well, where are you from?" He said, "CHINA" with a big smile on his face. I laughed and said, "No really-- where are you from?" He said, "Ethiopia."

Wow.
WOW!

Can you believe this was a DIVINE APPOINTMENT? Isn't it just AMAZING that God placed me on a delayed flight so that I could have a seat next to an Ethiopian man on a flight going to El Paso, Texas? And can you believe that I had been grumpy in spirit about it but God loves me and blessed me anyway???

Well--- this man was so kind and my entire flight was filled with heart-wrenching, amazing and inspiring life stories from this 26 year old Ethiopian named Israel. IT WAS A DIVINE APPOINTMENT. For privacy sake, I won't go into all the details of Israel's life story on this blog--- but I will share that Israel was an orphan since he was 9 years old. He lived with extended family for awhile, but ran away after a year of abuse. He travelled and worked and travelled and worked for 11 years trying to make his way to America. After his parents died, his destination had always been America because he had met one American woman in Ethiopia who had shown him kindness and told him the God loved him and had a purpose for his life! Isn't it amazing to see how ONE person's kindness gave this little orphan boy HOPE and a dream??

Israel shared the intimate details of his life story with me on a very crowded plane. A lone tear ran down his strong cheek and his voice quivered when he spoke of the loss of his parents and that memory of being alone in the world. I was given the opportunity to share our faith and love in Jesus Christ and our adoption story of Nahom with him. I told him of my vision from God of Nahom in my hallway and how God had opened doors and miraculously worked to care for and love this orphan and give him a home and a family. I told him that God had spoken to us and shown us that HE loves the orphan and that as a family we were called to love orphans also. I shared that throughout the Bible, God shows his love for the poor, oppressed, and lonely and that God had used those scriptures to bring us to Nahom. His voice cracked as he said, "I am that orphan boy you are adopting. That was me, 17 years ago. Nahom is a blessed child and I hope to get to meet him and also adopt him as my Ethiopian brother. Your God is good." During our visit, Israel offered to help with translations for Nahom when we get moved to El Paso and is excited to introduce his son, Gideon, to another Ethiopian child.

I was also very blessed to meet Israel's family at the baggage claim area of the airport and after many hugs and exchanging of phone numbers and emails, they invited me to come to their home for dinner. Unfortunately, I already had made arrangements for each of my evenings in El Paso, so we parted ways with plans to introduce our families to one another and have an Ethiopian dinner together at our new home when we get settled in middle July. Israel did have one special request for our Ethiopian meal together....he asked if I would teach his wife to make injera bread! YEA!! God is so good- I'm so thankful that I've learned to cook Ethiopian and hope to learn more during our trip to Ethiopia!! What a neat thing to be able to share with this family! :)

I am soooo thankful that I met this wonderful Ethiopian man and his family. Some people may say that it was just a coincidence, but not me.....friends, I was seeking God, fasting and praying on that very day and HE WAS THERE in a mighty way! God blessed me in a way I could have NEVER imagined or thought of! The 3 days I was in El Paso were ALL blessed. Amazing. There are more stories of God's faithfulness, his provisions, his goodness....but I'll save them for another post- this one is already quite lengthy!! I will tell you though that my house hunting was successful and we found a place to rent after we get home with Joshua Nahom and do our Army move in July. It was the very last house I looked at and is absolutely perfect for our family! :) Thank you Lord!! YEAYEAYEA! Here's a snapshot of the house we'll be renting in about a month or so from now!!!


Joshua 1:9 "I command you be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Psalms 32:8 "The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you."

Blessings to you,
Amy

PS--- OUR COURT HEARING IN ETHIOPIA WILL HAPPEN this THURSDAY- JUNE 11, 2009. Please pray for us during the night, WEDNESDAY NIGHT our time(CST) when they'll actually be hearing the case in Ethiopia! Please PRAY for us!