Donwton Abbey had me dumbstruck and up later than I wanted to be last night.  Actually, I sort of knew what was going to happen, because as I Googled around to see when season 4 would start, I ran across some pretty big spoilers, hints of tragedy.  Wasn’t one big tragedy enough for one season?

So, I wasn’t as eager to get out of bed this morning in the darkness.  The heater was cranking, and I was warm under the covers, which meant that it was really cold outside.  I came downstairs and checked my phone for messages before grabbing my Bible.  I’d missed one from 12:36am:

“She’s headed to the hospital!  Checking to see if they will admit her ~ sorry it’s late, 

but thanks for praying!”

The message wasn’t from a husband telling me of his wife’s trip to the hospital.  It was from a young woman, and dear friend, unable to have a child for over a decade, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the son she and her husband have adopted. The biological mother is the acquaintance of a friend from work, and is choosing life over death in ways she will never fully know for this child whom she knew she could not keep and raise herself.  A struggling single mom already, she is doing the best that she can for the two that she already has.

 Quick prayers for the mom in labor, my friend and her husband, and the health and protection of this little baby boy before picking up His Word and reading this:

“…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us.”

Ephesians 1: 4-8

And I’m not able to be as overwhelmed by this as I ought to be, but I pray through limited understanding anyway.

I had nothing to offer you.  I still don’t, and yet You chose and You still choose me to be your daughter.  And oh, how I needed a father and a mother and a family even in the midst of the ones you had given me. I hate to even imagine where I would be, who I would be without your adopting me.  Even the heart that longs to know you is not something that is a credit to me, but a gift from you. Your grace is glorious and full of riches.