Sometimes, okay, most of the time, I am in “work-mode.” Duty-mode, plans-mode, schedule-mode. I didn’t use to be this way, but after becoming a mom, homeschooling, and now with teens (even though we are not homeschooling), I feel a little hypervigilant to keep all the things remembered, prepped, finished on time. (Ugh! Who am I anymore?) This can be worked on, by the way; it is not our fate! But anyway, sometimes I am in this mode and I forget…I forget that God is behind the scenes working even now, and I forget what miracles He has done on our behalf. But this past month, I could not forget. God used the reality of surgery, days in the hospital, and watching my daughter in pain, to get me out of my usual fog and see something clear and bright.
Our Eva (Orlanka) was adopted from Haiti nine years ago. She is now 14 years old. Ever since we met her, we knew that she would need special medical care and even surgery someday. She had chronic bullous lung disease and constantly struggled with allergies, asthma, coughing, inflammation in her chest, and infection in her lungs. She had had some serious lung conditions as a toddler but recovered from them in Haiti before we even met her, and we think that is why one of her lungs was so damaged. She was born the year of 2010 earthquake, so this might have played a part as well. After many bronchoscopies, CT scans, and x-rays, it was finally time for Eva to have her left lung completely removed, and the surgery happened on July 16, 2025, just a month ago.
As I said, I was used to the busy fog and the dedication to my calendar. But the day Jack and I took Eva to the hospital for surgery, none of that mattered, and our hearts and minds were completely intent on Eva’s care, pain management, successful surgery, and recovery. In that space, out of nowhere, the Lord impressed on my heart that He brought her to the United States for this. He wanted to rescue her and give her a long, full life and testimony. His plans were not so much about the Taylors, even though He is blessing and refining us through having her as our daughter…He was like: “Lyndsay, I have got my eyes locked on this girl. I have a plan. This is part of it.” He also impressed on me that this adoption was not just my idea or my desire, but He really confirmed that it had been Him pressing it upon me until it was finished. I sat in awe as these realizations flooded my heart and mind. Lastly, He said in so many moments, especially when the pain was unreal as she came out of surgery: “This is not going to break her; it’s going to make her.”
She wants to be a doctor or a nurse someday. She has received Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior and has made that public through baptism. On the other hand, she’s working at many challenges in her life and there are times our personalities and desires clash like WWIII. But God! God has His eyes locked on our children, your children, too. He is at work. He is working all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. He has a plan and will do more than my lecturing, planning, and other tasks I perform could ever do. We pray and speak life and hang in there, but always, always, always – HE is their Waymaker, Miracle-Worker… and He is our’s too.
