30 Days of Thanks: Day 30

I have SO enjoyed reading other 30 Days of Thanks posts here and on Facebook!

Thank you so much to everyone who played along! I hope you were as blessed by it as I was!

Day 30: I'm thankful for Adoption.

I am a Christ-follower.

I know what the Bible says.

There's more to it than James 1:27.

There's more to it than what you can find in 

every verse in your concordance

that references "orphans".

You won't hear me say that all Christians should adopt.

There are plenty of other ways to "care for widows and orphans in their distress".

A few weeks ago,

we swore before a judge here locally

that we do agree to finalize the adoption of our little three,

that we would consider them as our naturally-born children,

that we would provide for them the same inheritance rights

as our other children, and that in the eyes of the law - 

there would be no distinguishing between the little three and our first four.

Today, it suddenly hit me how closely this parallels our own spiritual adoption.

We were lost,

homeless,

without a future,

without hope...

and the Father chose us.

Before we could fully understand the significance...

He chose us.

Not making any assumptions about you... 

but I know that

I was the "hard-to-place child".

I was the one with the "difficult past".

I was the "older child".

I was the one "prone to 'acting out'".

I was the one with "attachment disorders".

He chose me anyway.

I was the Special Needs,

the institutionalized,

the one not expected to thrive.

He wanted me anyway.

I was the child born addicted,

the one with a long line of dangerous activities,

the one without much history on paper...

HE chose me anyway.

And you know what??

I'm the Reactive Attachment Disorder child most of the time.

He loves me anyway.

And I also know I'm not God.

Not even a little bit.

Not even close.

Before you see me comparing myself 

because we have adopted children and are adopting children...

it's not a comparison,

it's an example that God set forth 

way before agencies

and country programs 

were ever thought of.

Adoption is hard.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hurt by comments from friends.

I'd be lying if I said I am totally at peace about 

finding the money for the rest of the adoption expenses.

But I DO know that the Lord put 

our previous and our present adoptions on our hearts and

we sought wisdom, and we know we are on the path He laid out for us.

And just like everything else...

I don't always have to understand it completely

to know that He isn't trying to harm me.

He isn't trying to ruin our lives.

He knows I can't live up to His example of adoption.

But, whenever you seek to do something well,

you copy the BEST example you can find.

And that's why I am thankful for Adoption.

MY adoption,

by the Father,

who chose me,

loves me,

and wanted me...

in spite of myself.

"Yet not as I will, but as YOU will." Matthew 26:39