Because She Believed - A Story of Faith and Hope
After I shared with Julie the personal struggle I had experienced with God in the weeks leading up to Kristen’s accident, I reflected on His steadfast love and care for His children. His time with me wasn’t unique. He has always desired to be close with those who seek Him.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
For instance, in the days leading up to His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus invested Himself in preparing His friends for the time that He would no longer walk with them. When He told them that the time of His departure was near, they were concerned they wouldn’t know where He was going and they wouldn’t be able to follow. He told them they could not follow where He was going, but He would not leave them as orphans. He said He was leaving His Spirit with them to remind them of the things He had taught while He was with them. He was going to prepare a place for them, and He would return and receive them to Himself. Jesus does not leave any of His spiritual children to walk alone. His Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are His children.
The gift of His Spirit is an incredible blessing for us all. The Spirit was left to be with us always and to remind us of the words Jesus had spoken. But the blessing didn’t stop there. The teaching of Jesus did not end on the cross and did not end when He departed this earth to be with His Father. His teaching continues for each of us as His Spirit leads us through the trials and triumphs of our lives. The teaching comes through our experiences as we trust Him and follow where He leads us in faith and hope.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. …These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. …When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 14:18,25-26, 16:13).
So in this time of loss and sorrow, God’s Spirit has reminded us of His steadfast presence in our lives. He has taught us to trust Him in all things. We are reminded of our times of blessing and trial over the years. We reflect on the intimacy and peace we have always had with Him, the lessons of faith and trust, and our confidence that His desire for us is for good and not evil.
I have always admired Paul’s absolute faith in God. It was one of the things that attracted me to him. The trials of his youth had given him a foundation of trust that was built on God’s track record of faithfulness. I, on the other hand, had experienced a pretty smooth childhood with a strong Christian family and no big tests of my faith.
Before Kristen’s accident, my greatest faith test had come shortly after we returned to the mainland after our two years of mission-related work in Hawaii. While there, we had purchased a condo as an investment property. Not long after we returned to North Carolina in 2008, the housing market collapsed. A financial crisis and recession soon followed. Our condo lost about forty percent of its value overnight, and the rental market was flooded with inventory. In addition, Paul had been working as a contract computer programmer while we were in Hawaii but was unable to continue after we returned to North Carolina. He was without work for almost a year.
With our condo costing us $1500 per month in addition to our living expenses in North Carolina, we ran through our emergency fund quickly.
I remember when Paul came to me and said, “We have a decision to make. Do we file for bankruptcy now, or do we trust God and cash out our retirement funds? We could use those funds to pay as much as we can toward the debt before we file.”
Paul said the money would be protected in the bankruptcy, but he had prayed and felt we should use it to honor our debt to the best of our ability.
God honored our faith and provided a job for me at Samaritan’s Purse. My faith blossomed through this trial, and the steadfast trust in God that I had admired in Paul became more real to me than it had ever been before.
Paul would often say, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” And it definitely was our strength! It was sweet watching Paul with the girls during this time He loved taking them to school and spending extra time with them… and they loved their special time with daddy!
We had lost all our earthly wealth, but we had faith and we had family!
-Julie
We have always shared with our girls regarding their heritage and how God led us to them as He built our family through love. It was not by our strength or wisdom but by His grace. God had brought us to Kristen’s birth family, not to take her away from them, but to make one family from the two through our shared love and care for her. Five years later, God brought us to Samoa to do the same with another special child.
This chapter with the Huffman family began in 2001 as we were preparing to leave Irmo, South Carolina, to move to a small town about thirty miles north of Charlotte, North Carolina. Kristen had been a part of our family for a little over three years at this point, and God was leading us to consider adopting another little girl. We had maintained contact with Kristen’s birth family, so our thoughts led us once again to the Marshall Islands. This time God was broadening our vision not only to consider another adoption but also to consider other ways to help the islands.
The week before we left Irmo, I met with a man who was a missionary to the Islands of Samoa. He was a Samoan pastor from Cayce, South Carolina, who led a medical mission to the islands each summer. The teams are comprised of medical personnel, pastors, prayer team members, and anyone else who wants to share God’s love. As we sat in Ryan’s Steakhouse discussing how God was working through the summer missions to touch lives and heal hearts, God was confirming the vision He had given me to do even more in the islands. When we finished our time together and started to leave, I extended my hand to say thank you. He took my hand, looked at me, and said, “I’m not sure how or when, but I believe God is going to lead you to Samoa and we will serve there together one day.” His words stirred my heart, but it did not seem likely that we would end up in Samoa since we were planning to serve the Marshall Islands.
As is often the case, our plans had to be adjusted. We met with resistance regarding our goals in the Marshall Islands and had to put our plans on hold. With the road blocked regarding our work in the islands, our attention turned to adjusting to our life in Mooresville, North Carolina. A new home, new neighbors, new school, new friends, and a new church family all required tending to before we considered other ways to minister to the islands. Kristen’s adoption had turned out to be only the beginning of God’s plans for us in His service in the Pacific Islands. Our love for her was the catalyst of our love for the islands and their people.
Fast forward to 2003, and we were moving forward with plans for our second adoption from the Marshall Islands. The doors to serve the people through missions were still closed as we began the adoption process. We had everything in place and had been tentatively matched with a one-year-old little girl. Even though things appeared to be going smoother than they had with our first adoption, Julie and I were less at peace. We prayed for God to reveal anything that we needed to consider or adjust. Not long after, we received word from our agency that the local government was suspending adoptions while they considered new rules or possibly a permanent ban.
Following the suspension of adoptions from the Marshall Islands, our agency contacted us to discuss our plans. They said that if we still felt God wanted us to adopt a child at this time, they would credit what we had already paid toward a program for any of the countries they served. We prayed about it for a couple of weeks before we said yes.
When we responded, the adoption agency said they were just starting a new program in another group of Pacific islands and asked if we knew anything about Samoa. Now let’s rewind to the meeting with that pastor from Cayce, South Carolina, in 2001. Julie and I both smiled as we remembered the pastor’s prophetic words, “I’m not sure how or when, but I believe God is going to lead you to Samoa and we will serve there together one day.” We didn’t know the final destination of God’s plan, but we knew where the next step was leading us. That is the comfort of walking with God. He leads, we follow… and the outcome belongs to Him.
When we started with the Samoa program, we were again looking to adopt a younger child, one to two years old. While we waited for a match, the adoption agency asked if we would consider a special needs child. We said we would discuss it, pray about it, and give them an answer when we had more details. They emailed us and said they had a couple of children they wanted us to consider. They would have more details when they called in a few days.
One evening during this time of waiting for God’s leading concerning adoption, Kristen came running into our bedroom. With a panicked look on her face, she said: “I know I told you I wanted a little sister, but I still want to be the smallest!” Kristen had always received quite a bit of attention due to her ethnicity and petite stature. She was afraid everyone would give her new “little” sister all the attention. We told her we didn’t know how we could accomplish that goal and that she should pray and ask God for the answer. She walked out with a confident, satisfied look on her face. It was a sweet testimony of her simple faith. She had a problem, and she was going to ask God to help her fix it.
-Julie
As we waited for the phone call, we wondered where God would lead us. I prayed each night for His peace and clarity. The first night I had a dream that we had arrived in Samoa to meet our daughter. When we approached her, I saw an unfocused view of what appeared to be a young Samoan girl standing under an arch in a brown dress. The next night, the same dream returned, but the picture became clearer. The third night, the picture was mostly clear. I could see a Samoan girl who looked to be five or six years old, wearing a brown dress and standing under an arch.
The evening following my last dream, the agency called and said they were sending an email with a child’s picture and information. As we waited for the email to come through, the agency program director said, “I know you said you preferred a younger child, but I hope you will consider this child.”
When we opened the email, I saw the picture of a young Samoan girl standing under an arch in a brown dress. I began to cry with joy at the intimacy of our Father’s care for us. He had prepared my heart, through the dreams, to receive a child that was different than my original expectation. The words, “Yes, yes!” literally jumped out before I could even process the thought. I paused and stated, “Wait, I better ask Julie what she thinks.”
When I turned to her, she had tears streaming down her face as she said, “Yes, that is my daughter!”
Kristen had prayed for a little sister who was bigger than she was. Her new sister turned out to be about two inches taller than Kristen and three weeks younger. That’s how God honored the faith of a child.
-Julie
I called the pastor I had met before we left South Carolina and shared our news with him regarding adopting from Samoa. We laughed together, and I commented, “I guess this is the how and when God has ordained for us to serve the Samoan people together.”
When we adopted Grace in 2003, we were privileged to visit with her birth mom and older sister while we were in Apia, Samoa. As we were preparing to leave, her mother said, (translated) “I hope she will return to visit me one day.”
“We can’t promise she will return, but we will do everything in our power to bring her back to visit when she is ready,” I replied.
Fast forward to 2015. Grace asked if I was planning to go on the mission trip to Samoa that summer. I answered that God hadn’t spoken to me about it yet. She said, “If He does, can I go too?” We discussed it, and she said she was ready to see her birth family the next time God called me to go with the mission. A few weeks later, God confirmed our plans to be on the summer mission team. I would once again be on the prayer team; Julie would be in the pharmacy, and Grace would help with the children’s ministry.
During this trip, we were reunited with Grace’s birth mother and family in Samoa. This included an extra special blessing when we were able to visit Grace’s grandmother who was in her 90’s. Julie and I were able to honor our commitment to bring Grace back to visit her birth family and country. Grace was able to serve the people of Samoa through the medical mission and share the love of God with them. And as if to confirm His pleasure and approval, God honored us with a beautiful rainbow over Grace’s village as we departed.
The summer of 2015 carried with it the answers to many of our hopes and prayers as an adoptive family. In addition to reuniting with Grace’s birth family, we also celebrated Kristen’s graduation from high school. These were special milestones for our family and we thanked God for His grace in our lives.
All of our trials and triumphs remind us that the teaching of Jesus didn’t end at the cross. Through our many experiences, as we are walking with Jesus and following His Spirit, He has continued to teach us. His Spirit reminds us of who He is and of the gift of faith and life He has given us through His sacrifice on the cross.
Jesus did not leave His disciples as orphans, and He will not leave us either. His Spirit walked with them and guided them as they testified of His good news. His Spirit guided them as they established the teachings of the New Testament Scriptures. That same Spirit walks with each of us today. His Spirit speaks into our lives each day as we draw closer to Him through faith and prayer.
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:25-26).
Each valley He leads us through and every mountain He encourages us to climb, all teach us of His intimate care for us and help bring us to maturity in Him. Not that we have already obtained the closeness we desire, but we press on to know Him even more intimately, day by day, minute by minute.
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
