Musings of an Adoptive Dad - Part 1

Since I brought it up in yesterday's sermon (audio should be available here by Wednesday or on iTunes), I thought I'd post this week about some reflections on adoption.  First out of the box and hot in my heart right now is adoption is a calling.

What I said yesterday in the sermon and I've blogged on before I stand behind:  I think every Christian couple should ask if God will let you.  But throwing the door open like that doesn't mean there's not a massive, weighty, spiritual piece to it.  Quite the contrary.  Should God allow you, you'll find yourself caught in this gravitational calling and actually depending on it.  We did.

I remember when it clicked for us.  I remember eating italian food with Ginny and talking about entry into this process.  I remember all the waiting.

We waited a year to get a match.

We waited a long time for our PA.

We waited forever for our RA.

We waited longer than anyone under the non-Hague rules for our TA (over 150 days).

We cried while waiting.

We fussed with God and our boys and one another.

We got promises from God.  None more precious than 1 Thessalonians 5.24:  Faithful is He who calls you and He will bring it to pass.  We clung to that truth like a kid to a lollipop.  Multiple times, I'd tell myself and my wife that we weren't going to stand before Jesus someday to give an account for our lives and tell Him that we quit just because the wait was long and too hard.  The temptation to give up was there.  God's promises are stronger than the promises of temptation.

I received what I thought was a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit:  January.  Turns out that's the month in which she was born and that's the month we got matched.

We saw God move in the last minute on both our RA and our TA (posts on my wife's blog here and here).

We rode roller coasters of unbelievable heights and depths.

None of it - NONE - could we have endured without the sense of calling.  It's what sustained us.  And that sense of calling is that gravitational pull toward something, giving weight to what you do and keeping you together when everything else is going supernova around you.  We have some friends in the process right now enduring quite a bit of opposition from their family.  Harsh words.  Sinful attitudes.  Guilt.  Frustration.  Prejudice.  You don't endure those kinds of things (especially from family) with eyes on God without that settling, focusing, steadying weight of calling.

Adoption is a calling.  No denying it.  But it could be a calling for a lot more families than you know.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...