Our First 'No'

It's hard for me to even write "Our First 'No'", because it's acknowledges that there might be other times when we say 'no' to a placement call. I had just told someone the other day that I felt good being able to say that even if we never got the chance to have a child in our home, at least we had said yes at multiple steps of the way- when adoption didn't seem right, we said yes to fostering, the first call where a child lived far away, we said yes to the distance, and we said yes to the second call for a child with some medical needs. So when I got this call, I thought maybe God had been helping us wade in the water in preparation for this deep plunge- a child living far away (with parental and sibling visits), and major medical needs. Matt and I talked and very confidently agreed we were not equipped for this child, but I realized it hurt my pride more than anything to say no. So today I am reflecting on and reminding myself that even though this whole process is growing our character more and more, that's not the entire point, and sometimes saying no develops out character too. It's not that we should stick to our list of what we committed to- even though we put parameters on based on wise advise, we should still seek God's counsel before every decision, and I have to face that sometimes the answer will be no.