Testimony

Here's my testimony that I didn't get to share at hale county, but I wrote it anyways =)



Hi guys! So my name is Hannah-Katherine, I’m 15 years old, and I’m a sophomore I high school. I’ve grow up in a Christian home, with parents who took me to church twice a week and taught me bible verses and how to live by God’s word, ya know the whole bit!
Well, one day, when I was 10, my mom sat us down and told us that God told her that, if we all agreed on it, than we were going to start foster care.
Of course we all agreed! Ever since I was little, my whole family and I have been obsessed with babies and little kids! It wasn’t long after that, that we got our first baby, of course we all loved her. Then we got our second, and our third. Our third child’s name was Kayden. She was a baby addicted to all kinds of medicine, ,so she was a very hard to take care of! I kept waiting and waiting for the medicine to finally get out of her system, but it felt like it took forever!! Eventually, she was completely detoxed, and she was precious. A year later, she was still with us. Her mom and dad weren’t in the picture anymore, so, we decided to adopt her. We couldn’t just give her away when she was almost two! We were the only family she knew. So, we started the paper work. Little did we know that it would be so expensive! So, we decided to put it off until we saved up the money. We thought, what’s the rush, right? It wasn’t until recently that we found out there was a rush!
A year and a half later, Kayden was almost four. We got another baby into our custody who was on medicine just like Kayden was. One night he ran out of medicine so my mom gave him some medicine that we had left over from another child. The same medicine that was prescribed to him, but it had another Child's name on it.
My mother told the doctor this, thinking she had nothing to hide.
They pressed charges, telling us we were abusive to the foster kids in our home, so they came and took him away from us. We were okay with that. We were upset that they would think so badly of us when really we were just trying to help the child, but we were fine. Until, they came to our house and told us that Kayden must go with them too.
We thought that was impossible. Kayden wasn’t in their custody anymore. The only thing that was stopping her from being ours was a signature on a piece of paper.
So on May 5th, my little sister was taken from our home.
We had no idea when we would get to see her again, or when she would come home. May 19th 2009, 2 weeks after she was taken, we got to see her for her 4th birthday, but we still haven’t seen her since.
We went through eight court dates, trying to get the judge to see that we were only trying to do what was best for that child, and that Kayden had nothing to do with it anyways!
Almost a year went by between the 8 court dates. And I kept asking, “What are you doing God? Why are you putting my family through this? Why are you putting HER through this?” And I kept getting the same answer,
“Wait.”
I had no idea what that meant or why I had to do it! Almost a whole year already passed! Wait for what?
We received news on April 21st, that she wasn’t coming home. That my little sister wasn’t my little sister anymore. So it isn’t a really happy ending, but I want y’all to get the message that It took me so long to learn during all this.
Wait.
I’ve learned so much out of this than I thought was possible when all this started. I know that having Kayden away from our house would not be ideal for us, and I wouldn’t have picked this for myself, but I know God’s plans are bigger than mine.
He knows the end of my whole life, and he knows what’s best. We might not always know it, or feel it in that moment, but he is bigger than our situation.


Here’s a poem that pretty much sums up the whole thing.

Desperately, helplessly, lovingly I cried,
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."
"Wait, you say, wait," my indignant reply,
"Lord, I need answers. I need to know why! Is your hand shortened, or have you
not heard? By faith I have asked and am claiming your Word. My future and all
to which I can relate, hangs in the balance and YOU tell me WAIT? I'm needing a
'Yes' a go-ahead sign, or even a 'No' to which I can resign. And Lord, you
promised that if we believe, we need but to ask and we shall receive. And Lord,
I've been asking and this is my cry: 'I'm weary of asking! I need a reply.'"
Then quietly, softly I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So I'm waiting, for what?"
He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.
All you seek I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me,
when darkness and silence were all you could see;
You would never experience that fullness of love,
as the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You would know that I give and save, for a start, but you'd not know the depth of
the beat of My heart, the glow of My comfort late in the night, the faith I give
when you walk without sight, the depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.
You never would know, should your pain quickly flee,
what it means that 'My grace is sufficient for thee!'
Yes, your dreams for that loved one overnight would come true,
but oh the loss, if I lost what I'm doing in you!"
"So be silent, My child, and in time you will see,
that the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me;
And though oft may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still WAIT."