My wife and I are currently engaged in the process of adoption through Faithful Adoption Consultants, a consulting agency based out of Georgia. Needless to say, the process of adoption is a long and difficult process. This difficulty comes in many different forms, to include: a mountain of paperwork, a thick price tag, and a lot of tiring emotions. But, it’s worth it. Why? Because life matters. Life is precious. Life is valuable. Indeed, my wife and I long to hold our fourth child, our adoptive child, sometime (Lord willing) in 2020.

Below are three things I have been immensely reminded of during this hard, but beautiful journey of adoption…

1. God can change hearts. My wife initially proposed the idea of adoption very early in our marriage. I quickly shot it down. I wasn’t trying to be mean or insensitive, but adoption simply wasn’t on my radar. It wasn’t a part of my plan for my life. Little did I know that my wife was praying for me. Never underestimate the power of a godly wife praying for her husband! God used my wife’s prayers to change my heart by first changing my mind. God made it abundantly clear (through a series of events played out over many years) that my life really isn’t my life (it belongs to Him) and thus “my plan” for “my life” is irrelevant. In the end, I was the one who restoked the conversation of adoption (earlier this year) with my wife. You read that right; I was the one who reintroduced this topic of conversation into our marriage. My wife didn’t pester me, guilt trip me, or nag me about adoption; she simply prayed for me. And over many years, God changed my heart and is allowing me the wonderful joy of leading my wife in this process.
2. God always provides. The paperwork is daunting, but God always provides. The financial price tag is high, but God always provides. The emotional roller coaster is exhausting, but God always provides. Our God is a provider! When the paperwork is overwhelming, He provides extra energy and a wonderful guide (Jason through Faithful Adoption Consultants) to help us. When the financial price tag seems too high, He provides a little boy from church who literally put two quarters into my hand one Sunday and said (with excitement), “Pastor Dave, it’s for your adoption!” When our emotional tank is running on empty, He provides us with exactly what we need, when we need it. Our God always provides.
3. God adopts. This whole process of physical adoption has provided me such a beautiful picture of my own spiritual adoption into the family of God. Indeed, physical adoption is such a beautiful picture of the Gospel. Passages like Galatians 4:4-5, which states, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” And passages like Ephesians 1:4b-5, which says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ…” have come alive to me in powerful ways. That God would reach down and save me, adopt me, and love me…Wow. What grace! What mercy! This whole process of physical adoption has helped me to relish my spiritual adoption into the family of God in bigger and better ways. Indeed, I like what David Platt says about the process of adoption, “It is important to realize we adopt not because we are rescuers. No. We adopt because we are rescued.” Yes, rescued by God, and adopted into His family, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ…How precious it is that our God adopts us.

Please continue to pray for me and my family as we walk this adoption pathway. It is hard, and it is long, but it’s so worth it. Indeed, our child is out there somewhere, we just have to work hard (by God’s good grace) to find them.