Oh, the bright spots!

My heart is overflowing to the point of tears - thank you God for our children, and what You've done in their lives and ours.
This morning was Mom's in Touch, and as we do each week, we chose a specific child to pray for. I choose Serena because my heart is aching for her right now. She has had significant pressure in learning our language and in most areas of schooling. If you compare what she knew when she first came to America 2 1/2 yrs. ago to what she knows now, she has made tremendous progress, but if you look at how far she has to go to be caught up to where she should be according to her age, it is so discouraging. She seems to comprehend so little of what she reads and is supposed to have learned. It has been a point of frustration between mother and daugher. More than that issue, my concern for her recently is her negativity. Somehow in the process of my trying to teach her, I've focused on the correction of all the little things that she doesn't say or do right, and now it seems she is constantly correcting (often harshly) her siblings. Her tone is bossy and controlling. She seems stressed. She is changing into a young lady also, so that brings a whole new set of issues. I sense she needs more affection and praise than what she's been getting. So we prayed for her especially this morning, and I've been making an effort to reach out to her with a hug or a smile. (I could do SO much better at this, as I get so caught up in what needs to be done, etc, and often struggle to take the time for positive attention.) Well tonight was the bright spot that I just had to share. We were praying at bedtime and she beautifully started praising God and telling Him that she loves Him and He is so wonderful etc. (she was so fervent, I heard myself saying "amen" and nodding, which isn't typical.) She prayed for President Obama that God would help him do a good job being president. She prayed for those in Ethiopia. At the close of her prayer she thanked God for her siblings and for her dad and mom that they went all the way over to Ethiopia to bring her and her brother here, and now she knows Jesus - and if they didn't go and get her from there, she might not ever have learned about Jesus and how He saved her from her sins.
No one put those words in her mouth. That came from her own heart. I'd never heard her say that before. I am brought to tears because has been our desire from day one. In fact, before we actually brought her from Ethiopia, Garret was the one who said that he wanted to share about Jesus with her. (She was raised Orthodox, and as far as we understand, they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus) Although we taught her about Him, it wasn't until she had been here a year and a half, when she was at camp and heard about Him in a plain, vibrant way, that she accepted His forgiveness for her sins. When I picked our kids up from camp, she was so excited to share her news with me - and got emotional telling it. Salvation through the blood of Jesus makes sense to her now. I am so thankful. There have been times when I've second guessed our adoption, for this reason or that ~ but tonight I'm lifted up. We have been committed to it from day one, and Serena has blessed us BIG TIME by being in our family, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to have her in our lives, but because of my own sinful nature and daily struggles, I've felt bad at times that I've not done better by her; but TONIGHT I feel like I caught a glimpse through a little window into eternity - something precious - the overall picture - a larger perspective - something from the heart of God through the words and smile of a little girl ~ my daughter.
Praise be to God our Father.