Prayer is the Maine Thing

We didn't go to Maine to see the beautiful light houses.  No.  We didn't go to Maine to see the beautiful, rocky coastline, though it is beautiful.  No.  We went to go meet some long distance friends and hug them in the flesh for the first time.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the incredible power of prayer (particularly as we've seen so many answers to prayer over and over, especially in the past 18 months), and how hard it is to make time to devote to it. After all, if we have so much difficulty giving our undivided attention to people (thank you, technology), I know it can be even harder to keep one's mind focused on a conversation with the unseen Creator of the universe. I read a devotional thought by Aletha Hinthorn a few weeks ago and I can’t get this thought out of my head:

Could it be that someday we'll say, "But, Lord, if I had known You were going to answer all those prayers, I would have prayed more; I would have put more people on my list"? By that time we will have said farewell to the "sweet hour of prayer." How wonderful that we still have time to touch others with our love and prayers.

We had some pretty amazing discoveries during the process of adopting Reni.  Some of them too personal to post here on the blog. One that we have shared about before though is the blessing of learning that a number of people around the world had been rallied to pray that Reni would have a Christian family step forward to bring him into their family.  It was a very humbling thought to realize that we were the answer to other people's prayers.

One of those prayer warriors -- actually, I think probably the rallier-in-chief -- was Doreen N.  Her daughter, Kerri, was our missionary friend and special helper during our time in Elbasan.  Back when Reni was just five weeks old, Doreen and her husband, Robert, were in Albania visiting their daughter.  They accompanied her on one of her regular trips to the Sisters of Charity orphanage to love on babies and toddlers when Doreen met and held baby Reni for the first time.  She returned to her home in Maine and solicited prayer on Reni's behalf -- both in Maine as well as in her native South Africa -- and on behalf of several other orphaned children who touched her heart.  When we met Kerri, she put us in contact with her mom and we have stayed in touch ever since.

When we made our schedule for this trip to the Northeast, we made sure there was time to make a trip over to Portland to meet Rob and Doreen and thank them for their prayers, their love, and their encouragement.  I'm sure her prayers had an effect on changing the course of Reni's life, and ours!

One pleasant surprise during our visit was to meet Doreen's friend, Jane.  Jane was one of those previously faceless, nameless prayer warriors I thought I would only meet in heaven.  She too had prayed for our Reni boy.

We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and met up with Doreen and Jane at the Portland Head Lighthouse for a picnic and a look-see at the most photographed light house in the world.  The Lord blessed us with some gorgeous weather.

After a beautiful afternoon at the park, we met up with the rest of Kerri's family (her dad, brother, sister-in-law and nephews) for dinner out.

All too soon, our day was over, but it was beautiful to finally meet in person.  It felt like we had known each other for years!  Isn't the Body of Christ beautiful like that?

A few more photos together at the campground before we said goodbye...

Reni and Jane

Thank you, Lord, for allowing us the blessing of meeting on earth those previously unknown individuals who have touched our lives through their prayers.  And we thank you for the promise of heaven to meet the rest...