Skip to main content

Some thoughts I had today about adoption...

Yesterday in our small group we listened to a message about the Spirit of Adoption. It was powerful and with everything that has happened recently it hits home even harder. God is a God of adoption, and if I am praying for life, praying for abortion to end, then the result is going to be that more babies are born into families that don’t want them or aren’t able to care for them. So what is the solution to that? Adoption. What if a million families decided to adopt one child each, imagine what that would do? That was one of the points put forth in the message. It seems almost impossible, yet so possible. On Saturday we had a memorial service here at IHOP-KC for one of the main advocates for adoption in our community. He was killed only 37 years old in a car accident just before Christmas. He didn’t just speak in favour of adoption, he lived it. Him and his wife had adopted 8 children, 3 with special needs. That is the heart of God. And God is a God of adoption. In the Bible it talks about the spirit of adoption and how God adopts us into His family. Adoption means legally belonging- we legally belong to God and are part of His family through adoption. The same way, when earthly families adopt children the children are no longer separate, but are part of that family. They belong.

And then I started thinking about this children’s home in Fortaleza, Tia Julia, where so many children live. They are taken as good care of as you can within the restraints of an institution, but there is a limit to how much love and attention can be given to each one, and at the end of the day it can never replace the love of a real family. While I worked in Fortaleza I remember going there several times in connection with specific cases. Knowing the mothers of several of the children there, my heart was torn so many times. On one side there was the plight of the mother to not want to give up her child for adoption; wanting to keep the door open for that moment when her life would be better and she could take care of her child. And yet seeing months and years pass knowing that the child was growing up to know institution as home, and knowing that there were families who were eager to adopt and become family to the child. There are no easy solutions. My heart still feels so torn even as I hear of different cases that come up in different settings; knowing that the best interest of the child always has to take priority, yet having walked alongside mothers on the other side who so desperately want to cling to the hope that “one day…” they will be able to be mothers to their children.

As we ended our small group we were challenged to reflect what part we are meant to play in this movement of adoption. How am I meant to walk out the spirit of adoption in a practical way at this time in my life? Am I supposed to come alongside a family who is adopting or who has adopted? Or am I meant to simply take a stand in intercession for life knowing that means also praying for adoption, praying that the church would rise up and be the solution to the unwanted children of this earth? I’ll start in the place of intercession and see where it goes from there…

Popular posts from this blog

Small moments that mean a lot

Walking home on the crunchy snow that lights up a December evening,  I felt so thankful. The revelation that fellowship and being together is the best gift you can give someone, and realising that although it might seem small, it can turn into something big when a person feels seen and valued.  Yesterday I helped out with a crafts workshop for a group of lovely women volunteering for Crux where I worked before (well, in all honesty: they were making angels while I ate Christmas cookies, Quality Street chocolate, and chatted). I love walking alongside people in conversation, and realise sharing life for 2 hours can last so much longer in value and experience.  This evening we had our Christmas dinner for volunteers and people who are part of my current job. It was a delightful evening with many nations gathered around the same table…. eating the same food… and for a few hours creating a small fellowship moment that will become a good memory for the future. Often in my job ...

Single-tasking September: The art of single-tasking.

To change habits and ways of life, the motivation for change has to be strong, and the benefits outweigh the effort it takes to make the change.  For so long it’s seemed like the ability to multitask has been regarded as a great skill, but is it really a good thing? Recovering from burn-out, one of the effects I noticed was that it was harder to concentrate, and especially tricky trying to focus on many things at once. I’d try to multitask, only to realise that all tasks suffered from lack of capacity to complete any one of them. The challenge is that the habit of always doing many things at once goes deep, and when I tried to focus on just one thing, I found that it was actually really difficult.  As I did a little google search on the matter, I found it seems like multitasking isn’t as healthy as once thought, and that it doesn’t help productivity. Some even referred to it as “switch tasking”, in the sense that the brain isn’t doing many things at once, but shifting rapidly...

What moves a person’s heart?

As we started to sing the Norwegian Christmas song “Mitt hjerte alltid vanker i Jesu føderom” (translation: My heart it always wanders in Jesus’ birthplace”), they took the initiative to stand up and take each others hands. It’s was a powerful moment, and I think that at that point there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Singing of finding home and the blessed Christmas night , a place of such hope and peace and freedom, moved us all. It caught me off guard and I hadn’t expected such vulnerability from these women. Many of them live with a wall built around their hearts as protection from a life which they have experienced as far from safe and kind. Now they find themselves literally behind bars, and yet behind the tough exteriors, are hearts that are still capable of being moved. Moved by being literally overwhelmed by presents and love and the message of value and hope. Moved to maybe, just maybe, believe that they are worth more than what life has communicated to them so far. ...