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…
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…