Already but not yet

We have taken one Sabbath day already since we were here and went up into the mountains to the spa and the creek, but today's Sabbath is really more to our taste since we have stayed in our hotel except for our regular visit. We are feeling in need of it more than we have since we were in Morocco, since we are being stretched by a lot of different kinds of pressures. For me especially, the struggle to trust is a spiritual battle that needs a lot of effort.

We are realizing, though, that this is a very valuable time; it is the time in our family history that uniquely captures this present chapter in our own spiritual adoption. A time of groaning and waiting, although a time that will soon be over and seem far away.

God has already come on a big trip seeking us, and he paid a great price to adopt us. He called us by his name and gave us new names, he gives us good gifts, we have legally been declared his children, and his Spirit is in us crying "Papa!" We have a new citizenship guaranteed to us but haven't set foot on that country's soil yet. We still are clothed in the temporary, holey, shabby bodies that we had to begin with, but he is preparing for us a glorious, holy wardrobe. We can meet with him daily, but he hasn't been able to take us home, and we still have to deal with this stinking place and a lot of griefs and sufferings including those of the other people here who have not been adopted. Not least is the pain of separation from him. Some days we (like Julia often does) tell him "Tomorrow, and tomorrow and babble-babble and America???!!!" and he patiently says "Not tomorrow or the next day but in a few weeks", and other days we (also like Julia, specifically as we were leaving today) throw a 15 minute crying fit because he won't let us listen to his Ipod. Ultimately, we really have no concept of how awesome the things are that he has prepared for us, but we kind of know that being with him and being loved by him are more important than all that anyway.