When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Psalm 126:1-3
One of the most familiar and inspiring phrases recorded in American history were spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he said in a famous speech, “I have a dream.” God used those words and the prayers and work of countless others to change the mindset, culture, and even the laws of an entire country. That is the power of a dream! Yet all too often I meet people who have either never been taught to dream, or over time have let their dreams slip away from them.
Even before my husband, Pat, and I were married, we dreamed about being involved in adoption and orphan care. Once we were married, the Holy Spirit spoke to us regularly about this dream becoming a reality. On one occasion, we heard the words, “Focus on the children, and I will focus on you.” From that moment on, we held onto those words as we began our journey on the bumpy and winding road of 2 U.S. adoptions and 3 international adoptions from Haiti. Truth be told, we had no idea the heartache and trials that lied ahead of us. Along the way we shed many tears and cried out to God for the five little girls we believed He had placed in our hearts. At times it seemed like the road we had started on had no final destination, and we knew that there were people around us who began to doubt if we would ever be able to complete the course of bringing these beautiful little ones into our family for good.
By the fall of 2009, it seemed we would drown in frustration. That September we felt prompted that Pat should go to Haiti to speak to our lawyer and retrieve a copy of our files for us to review so that we could try to figure out why things were taking so long. He went and got a copy of the files, but almost no answers from the lawyer. On the domestic adoptions, we were told that girls’ cases had been sitting on a judge’s desk for months and there was virtually nothing we could do except wait. By all natural accounts, both sets of adoptions had stalled and it seemed that there was nothing we could do to move them forward. For over 3 years we had fought the good fight of faith for these children, and yet in the natural it looked like our dreams we floating away as lawyers, judges, and natural laws in both countries seemed to stand firmly in the way of our dream becoming a reality. We prayed, had meetings, made phone calls to important people, and still no movement – not even an inch.
I remember a teacher at Rhema telling us that most people give up the stroke before midnight. What does that mean? Right before our deliverance comes is often the time we feel the most tempted to give up and abandon the dreams God has given us. Midnight is when Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and then were miraculously delivered from the shackles and prison that held them! Their deliverance came at the darkest hour when they were beaten and bruised and all around them seemed hopeless. Ever been there? When you look around and it seems all you can see is nothing! How must they have felt that night? One moment God is using you to perform miracles and set captives free and the next you are beaten and chained in prison. Ouch.
Thankfully my husband and I had been taught how to stand in faith even in the toughest of circumstances. Thank God for His Word! As my father would say, “Faith is the substance you hold on to until what you are waiting for shows up.” And so, we held on. Then it happened — as we came into the winter of 2009 seemingly out of nowhere things began to move. First, there was a prophecy that our girls from Haiti were coming home. We had intentionally not told anyone the major challenges that had just recently happened, and so no one in the service except for us realized just how impossible that seemed. The prophecy was then followed by a large financial gift to assist us in bringing the girls home. Even though we didn’t understand how that could possibly happen, we received the Word and the gift, believed the prophet and kept our confession of faith.
The holidays were approaching and still – no movement. Having done all to stand, we kept standing. One day at work I got a phone call from a caseworker who said, “I thought I’d call with an early Christmas gift.” There had been a MAJOR breakthrough in our domestic adoptions that opened the door to finishing them within a year. Wow!! What a mighty God we serve. But on the international front, still no movement.
On January 12, 2010 a horrific earthquake rocked the capital of Haiti and killed thousands of people. For about 24 hours we did not know what had happened to our girls and their orphanage. It was as though time was standing still as we saw the images on CNN and prayed and reminded God of His promise to protect our little girls. Miraculously, not one of the children there was hurt and only one building on their compound suffered damage any damage. Glory to God! We were overwhelmed with joy that they were safe and sound, but they were in the midst of chaos and disease as 2000 people flooded their compound to escape the devastation and bodies lining the streets right outside the orphanage walls.
Once again we prayed, made phone calls and listened in on teleconferences to see how this would affect our adoptions. We were told that the social service building was destroyed and all adoption paperwork had been lost. No one had any idea how any of this would impact American adoptions from Haiti. We thanked God for our government as they literally worked day and night to first get U.S. citizens out of Haiti and then promptly began to work with the Haitian government to formulate a plan to bring out children who were in the process of being adopted by American families. As it turned out, the last trip Pat took to Haiti in simple obedience to God was the key for us to qualify bring our girls home. Had we allowed ourselves to “drown in frustration” instead of hearing God’s voice, we would have missed possibly the one and only opportunity available to us to bring them home.
There are far too many details to share here (and I must admit there are a few I want to save a few for the book we’re working on to share our story!), but I can testify that as I sit and write this article, all 5 of my girls are at home, safe in their beds. It is early in the morning and soon I will hear the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. My youngest, who is 2, will call for mommy, flash her beautiful smile and be ready for oatmeal and bananas. Her older sister is 7, and was our first miracle years ago. She wants me to do her hair for tomorrow’s Easter program. Once their adoptions are complete we will be able to tell the amazing story of their journey into our family and the mercy of God upon their lives. Our 3 girls from Haiti are with us on a type of “international foster care” until their adoptions can be completed. My 6 year old twins will come down giggling and picking on each other. The oldest of the bunch is 9 years old. She is excited to wear her new outfit and shoes for Easter and will bother me all day about who’s coming to dinner and what we’ll be doing after church. The man of my dreams is sleeping in after spending the past few days preparing to take another trip to Haiti with my father and a team who is going to look at property to start an orphanage and help even more children there. After years of waiting, I am literally living in my dream.
God has done great things for the Beck family and it is truly joy unspeakable and full of glory to have our girls all here under one roof and safe in our arms. As I have been meditating on all that God has done for us, I cannot help but remember the many times when it seemed like these dreams were never going to come to pass. The moments when it seemed the enemy’s plans would prevail were plenteous as we fought the good fight of faith for all 5 of these children. It was almost as though our dreams were being held hostage by the enemy and the natural circumstances we faced almost daily. Some weeks every day was a struggle to keep believing. Many of us see time as the enemy. Every day that passes seems like a day wasted, but in God’s eyes, every day that passes is bringing you one day closer to the manifestation of the dreams He has placed in your heart.
Stay faithful and committed to the dreams God has given you. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. Heed the counsel of those God has placed in your life to guide and encourage you. Be sure your believing and confession of the Word stay strong. And when you lay your head on your pillow tonight, thank God that one day the dream in your heart will surely be a reality.