Choosing to SEE - Mary Beth Chapman [34]
And drift off to a distant dream
And somewhere while you’re sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you
And like the rain that falls into the sea
In a moment what has been is lost in what will be
When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
And this love will never let you go
There is nothing that could ever cause this love to lose its hold
When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in it takes you in for good
When love takes you in
14
Show Hope
I saw the face of Jesus
In a little orphan girl
She was standing in the corner
On the other side of the world
And I heard the voice of Jesus
Gently whisper to my heart
Didn’t you say you wanted to find Me
Well, here I am
Here you are
So what now
What will you do now that you’ve found Me
What now
What will you do with this treasure you’ve found
I know I may not look like what you expected
But if you’ll remember
This is right where I said I would be
You found Me
What now
“What Now”
Words and music by Steven Curtis Chapman
We came back from China with Shaohannah Hope Chapman in March 2000. This was, of course, back in the days before airport security had become as restrictive as it is today. There were about 250 people gathered right at the gate when we got off our airplane, jet-lagged, clutching our new little Asian princess. There were camera crews as well as friends and family cheering us across the finish line, taking pictures and waving welcome home signs.
I had already told Steven I was sure that when my brother Jim met Shaohannah, he was going to want to adopt as well. And sure enough, one of the first things he said – after we had hugged and introduced him to his new niece – was something like, “Okay, what do we need to do to start the process to go bring one of these little girls home to our family?”
Before we ever left the airport, five other families had told us that they’d love to adopt too, but they’d looked into it and couldn’t afford it.
Just days before, I had walked through the orphanage where Shaoey had spent the first seven months of her life. My heart broke over and over again as I looked into the faces of so many little ones lying there in their iron cribs, their eyes looking into mine as if to ask, “Did you come for me?”
So when people were telling me that they’d just love to take one of these little ones into their home if they only had the money, what was I to do? I started writing checks. As Steven says, a line started to form around the block as I tried to help wonderful families with the resources they needed to adopt children in need.
In the summer of 2001, we went back to China with my brother Jim and his wife Yolanda, as well as our great friends Geoff and Jan Moore, to be with them as they adopted Isabelle Chapman and Anna Grace Moore, two little girls from the same province as Shaoey. Several other families followed suit, and so we needed to figure out a better way to help as many people as we could to experience this miracle of adoption.
We had worked with Bethany Christian Services for our adoption of Shaohannah, so Steven called Bethany. “Is there a fund where we can direct people who want to adopt?” he asked. “We keep being approached by people who want so badly to adopt but don’t have the money to make it happen. We want to help people experience this miracle we’ve experienced . . . not to mention the fact that there are so many children waiting right now for families, and families wanting to give them a home!”
The people at Bethany were wonderful. They told us that they once had such a fund, but it had long since been depleted. They agreed that this was a huge need for Christian families. They were willing to help us if we decided to start something.
We continued to look around for some other organization that helped