“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” Isaiah 1:17
Adoption. What does that word evoke? Is it images of hundreds of orphaned children fading away in an old building, mistreated and unloved? Is it an image of a newborn abandoned by an underage and/or underprivileged mother? Is it a foster care child that becomes an integral part of your family? Is it children in other countries barely surviving in extreme poverty? Well, it is not so much about what you picture in your mind’s eye when you think of adoption. Adoption is essentially one of the purest forms of love. God sent his only son to die an unimaginable death so that he could adopt us as his children. What could be more pure? More precious? More in line with God’s heart?
When I met my husband, Franklin, we found ourselves very often talking about the future. How we’d like to have a few children and then adopt a few as well. However, those dreams of adopting children and growing a large family had to be pushed aside for a while due to legal and financial matters. Honestly, I never thought I’d see the day we’d even begin to map out a plan for those dreams. Last year, our family underwent many changes and with those changes came a new home church. Our second weekend there we stayed up late on Saturday night reminiscing about our dreams of adopting a few children. We talked about how it suddenly seemed like a possibility but agreed we would just keep praying about it. Well, as Jesus would have it, that Sunday at church there was a talk about adoption and foster care adoption. I could not believe it! Here, was my Papa telling me it was on His heart too! We left church having made a few connections with others who had adopted or were in the process of adopting. We felt so encouraged to continue planning and most importantly, praying. The following Sunday was Orphan Sunday and we were so excited to be a part of it. We truly felt confirmation that we would one day adopt. That evening we talked to our children about how God had adopted us and how we would like to share that love by adopting children and making them a part of our family. They loved the idea! They were so excited and they shared in our joy. It was such a special moment for us. That evening we added “adoption plans” to our prayer petitions jar and we have had the joy of praying about those plans for many months now.
Where does our desire for adoption come from? My husband was adopted by his step-father as a child. He was taken in and adopted by a man who wasn’t his biological father. Although, it took a long time and a deep understanding of his heavenly Father’s love for him to finally accept what his adopted father had done for him, he did. He feels that the best way to show the love of Christ for other children that so desperately need love and affection is to adopt them or even to foster them for as long as they need it. Thankfully, my heart has always longed to rescue an abandoned or unwanted child. I know for sure it had always been God’s plan for my life because for a reason I could not explain before, I have always felt drawn to their cause.
But so much has changed in our perspective in the last few months. We now know that so many foster children never get adopted because most people want a newborn or an infant to adopt. So many siblings are separated because only one is wanted because of age or gender. Not to mention, sick, disabled, or emotionally wrecked children that very few people want to even consider adopting. We know that sometimes it is harder for the biological parent to give up a child because their circumstances are just not appropriate for raising a child. We know that more grace is needed to be given than condemnation and judgement. Our hearts swell with excitement at the thought that one day, not too far away, we will finally and by the grace of God live out that dream. We want to open our hearts and home to any child that we are such God already has picked out for us. We don’t intend to reject anyone for any reason at all. But most importantly, we do not want to just sit on the sidelines and wait for our moment. We intend to dive in and join movements, fundraisers, programs, and just about anything we can to raise awareness to this desperate need and to get involved as much as possible from all angles to better understand the entire process.
In the meantime, as we take a few necessary steps to ensure we have everything is in order to begin our journey to adoption, won’t you please pray for us?
- Pray that all legal issues are resolved smoothly and quickly.
- Pray that our faith in God’s process remains despite the certain heartaches and downfalls associated with the adoption process.
- Pray that financially all things will be in order when the time comes.
- Pray for open doors and divine favor for our process.
- Pray that our marriage will remain strengthened and firmly planted in Jesus.
- Pray that we will be surrounded by a community of family and friends that encourage us and champion our cause.
- Finally, pray that God will be glorified through this process and that we can openly share our journey.
We firmly believe that as the body of Christ we are better able to accomplish our kingdom agenda together than as individuals. It is our desire that we not only inspire others to prayerfully consider adoption but also that we can gather an online community where we can all be encouraged, championed, taught and blessed as one and for the glory of God. We will also periodically update you on our journey through this blog and we thank you in advanced for every prayer you pray for our journey. Watch this space!
the motherhood calling 