Dear Mamas in Waiting

I've talked to a handful of hopeful adoptive mamas this week already about the wait. It's hard and easily tests patience and faith. But I love the gift that the wait can be. 

There's no doubt that most hopeful adoptive mama's hardest space is the wait to be matched. Once the home study paperwork is complete, the applications filled out, and the nursery decorated, there's the inevitable wait to be matched with an expectant family.

But there's a dramatic difference between pregnancy and waiting to be matched as an adoptive mama. With no belly gradually growing and not even a due date in sight, the wait can be long and hard. With no end in sight and nothing to do but wait, how do you bide your time? How do you hold your heart? How do you stay hopeful?

I've shared before about truth to cling to in the wait and what to do while you wait. But today I want to share the incredibly unique position you hold in this space.

Right now, chances are you are waiting in anticipation for an email or phone call with a new situation. A description of an expectant mama and the little one she is carrying. It includes sacred details of her personal life: a bit of her story, her interests and background, the details of the birth father, even her hopes and dreams for her child.

Although these include basic facts and statistics, what's contained in this information goes far beyond information. It also gives a glimpse into actual lives. A mother and father in a hard place. A baby with a future that is uncertain. Three lives that will be forever changed in the coming days. And others that will be changed as well; there are grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and possibly a future adoptive family involved.

When these phone calls or emails come, you are given insights into personal stories. There are details shared in each situation that this expectant mama might not have shared with anyone else.

What if God has called you not just to adopt a baby, but to pray for each of these women (and men and babies)?

What if your ministry isn't just as a mother someday, but as a prayer warrior today?

What if God has blessed you with an incredibly unique position to pray for this mama, and father, and baby in a way no one else on earth can in these moments?

It would be easy to waste the wait on impatience, grumbling, and angst, spending your time focusing on the baby that is not yet in your arms. But your fervent prayers can have a reach beyond this moment. I love that God doesn't waste these spaces when it seems like nothing important is happening. That in the wait, your time, your energy, and your prayers can have eternal impact. 

Here's some ways you can pray:

• Pray for peace for the expectant mama. Pray that God would meet her where she is and provide comfort and protection.
• Pray for wisdom for the expectant mom she makes a decision about what is best for her and her baby and considers parenting and adoption. 
• Pray for the father: that he would be an honored as a part of the decision-making process and offer support where he can. 
• Pray for the pregnancy and the baby: that the baby would be healthy and the expectant mom would get quality medical care.
• Pray for others to surround the expectant parents with encouragement and love; friends, family, and professionals who would honor their decisions and offer tangible means of support and care.
• Pray that through all of this, God would work all things for their good and His glory.

Someday, when the wait is over and you're snuggling a sweet baby, what a gift to be able to look back and think of all the ways you came alongside other women (and men) to pray for them and their babies. And to know that maybe, another hopeful adoptive mama was doing the same for the little one who would someday be in your arms as well.