We are Adopted

"Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His Will." -Ephesians 1:4-5

What a powerful verse! To think that God adopted all of us as His children through sending His son to die for us...that's just unimaginable! Here we are pondering over and praying over the adoption of one or two children, and our God adopted ALL of us!

I love the way David Platt puts it in the Foreward of the book Orphanology... "The gospel and adoption are beautifully woven together by the gracious hand of God. In Christ, God has shown His love to us as our Father. He has reached down His hand of mercy to us in the loneliness of our sin, and He has raised us up as members of His family. Consequently, one of the clearest displays of the gospel in this life is when redeemed men and women extend a hand of mercy to children in need and bring them into their families."

I have started reading Orphanology. For anyone considering adopting, I highly recommend this book. In the first chapter, the authors point out 8 similarities about God's adoption of us and our adoption of children. I won't list them all out here, but it is very cool to read about the similarities. Examples include, adoption is costly. For us, it will be very expensive (in dollars). For God, it was even pricier (in the blood of His only Son). Another example listed is adoption transforms the child in every way. While our child will be transformed by our love for them and our carefully planned out way in which we will raise them, as children of God, we are completely and radically transformed by His ultimate goal of making us more like Him. Until I began reading this book, I had never made the correlation between earthly adoption and our Father's adoption of us. But I must say, it is really cool!

So...here we are, considering adopting a child. I must say I never thought I would be here. But, then again, if things were going according to my plan, I'd have a 16 month old and another being born tomorrow. It is just so nice that I have finally gotten to a place where I trust that His plan is better than mine. It's a peaceful place to be. For so long, I didn't even consult God. I trusted in MY plan. I knew that my plan was best. Kinda like Sarah knew that her plan was best when after 10 years of infertility, she let her husband sleep with her maid to conceive a child. (I mean...what the heck was she thinking?) Was this the child from which a great nation was born? No, it was from Abraham and Sarah's child, Isaac. Sarah got tired of waiting (boy can I relate to that feeling!) and decided to take matters into her own hands rather than trusting in God. For the last 2 years, I have tried to control the situation. I'm ready to hand it over to Him and trust that my Father who adopted me knows what is best for me.

God has opened our hearts to adoption. Now what? It is a very overwhelming, kind of scary crossroad. We are currently praying about domestic adoption verses international adoption. We are waiting to hear from God on this. I am somewhat pulled toward international adoption, but not for the right reason. I feel that with international adoption there would be a much smaller chance of having my baby taken away from me. It sounds awful, but I'm scared to death of the mother or a family member coming back and finding loopholes in the system to take back their (my) child. What happens when our child wants to meet their birth mom? What if our child chooses to leave us to go back to their birth mom? These are my selfish fears. I know I need to trust God, and this is something that I am currently praying through. Michael, on the other hand, is more led towards domestic adoption. He feels that there are so many children right here in our state, even in our city, who need us. Why go across the world to get one? Not that there is anything wrong with that. After all, we are ALL God's children. I think both options are great, and we are awaiting a confirming word from Him. Please feel free to leave comments or opinions on this issue. We would love to hear your thoughts!

It is still hard at times. I still stare longingly at the baby aisles as we walk through Target. I lose myself in watching a child at the table across from us at Newks. Every now and then, a pang of jealously shoots through me when I pass by a pregnant woman at the grocery store. I long to carry a child. I long to be a mother. It is so wonderful to know that God will fulfill at least the latter of those 2 desires. Because I know and believe with all of my heart that the God who loves me and adopted me into His kingdom desires for me to love and adopt one of His precious children into my home. After all, I'm thankful He adopted me. Why not share that gift?