WHO IS THE LEAST AMONG US?

I can only begin this update by quoting Matthew 25:40, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Do we really look at serving the least? What does it mean to be the least? According to Webster's, least means lowest in importance. How do we deem a life, created by God, His workmanship, as the lowest in importance? I have been asking myself this question for the past two weeks as I have been pondering this scripture in my heart. Needless to say, the Lord had a purpose for that scripture to be brought to my attention and for me to meditate upon it. I still can't fathom the thought that we think so highly of ourselves that we would have the boldness of putting others below us. The background of this scripture is very interesting. Jesus is speaking about when He will come in all His Glory, and how as He is seated on His throne He will separate the peoples like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He is not looking for outer beauty, He is not ranking them, and He is not bringing attention to things that they obviously DID FOR HIM. What He is concerned most about in our journey of righteousness is what we did without knowing by simply letting the LIFE OF CHRIST flow through us. It was the simple things He brought attention to, the basics of life, the provisions no one should have to live without.
With all this being said, OUR FATHER, who is so faithful to take us by the hand, and lead us ever so gently down the path He chose for us, has spoken to our hearts concerning this adoption. All along we thought we were totally yielded to His Plan, but really we created our own image of what all this was going to look like. We pictured this little girl around 18 mos old coming into our home, and we pictured this whole process being so simple because we were yielded to HIM. Thursday of last week that image changed and it is even more beautiful and precious, like nothing we could have ever created in our own minds.
We heard from Rick in El Salvador for the first time. He was incredibly kind and communicated to us all that is going on down there. We had some news that was not good, yet God had already worked it out. Our home study and our agency are not Hague approved which as of April 1, 2008 is necessary if you are adopting from a Hague Convention country. However, Rick took the liberty to send our file to an agency in Kentucky who is willing to oversee the process of redoing the home study so it will follow the guidelines set forth by the Hague Convention. In our conversation, Rick also stated the process for adopting a young girl would take up to 2 additional years. There are a lot of changes going on in El Salvador which affects all aspects of the government. During our conversation, I asked Rick some questions about the orphanages and the children waiting to be adopted. The greatest need at this time is to place older children with families. There are already older children that have been processed through OPA and are waiting placement with a family. They are considered special needs sometimes because of their age. They get passed over because they are a little older. We had some decisions to make. Dexter and I talked and we believe with all our hearts that our daughter is in El Salvador waiting on us to bring her home. We are not backing out of this because of a few technical issues that have come about. However, it has caused us to look at what God wants to do in our family. He knew her when she was in her mother's womb, and he knew she would live with us one day. As Dexter and I talked, it was obvious to both of us especially Dexter that age really is not a determining factor for us. This is where the scripture came to life in me. These older children are considered the "least", yet scripture also says in the Kingdom the least shall be the greatest. These are words of LIFE to us. For our family, this is what God has planned, and we are one with Him.
So, this week Rick is going to OPA and changing our petition for an older child. He will obtain a list of girls that are already processed through OPA and are ready for placement. We then will pray the Lord makes this very clear to us which child is ours and will begin the process of bringing her home. We do not know a time frame. El Salvador is in the process of electing a new president and this causes delays. Please continue to pray for our family, that we will hear from the Lord and do what He says.