Much of what has been written to date on this blog has been the thoughts of my wonderful wife. She has done a great job of sharing "our" reasons, thoughts, feelings, etc. However, I thought I might also write a few words as well to provide a male perspective to those who may be interested.
I can say honestly that when we started the whole adoption process I was quite content with the little family God had given me. I was not as excited about this as Shanna was because life was comfortable. There were many thoughts that kept going through my head - "God has given us two wonderful kids. Why do we need another? I work hard enough to support the ones we have. Will I have to work harder to support another? How will this affect our current family dynamics. I enjoy the relationships I have with my girls. Will this adversely affect my relationships with them."
One day Shanna showed me a video about the waiting children in China and I was moved to act. It stirred me to my soul. I had to do something about what I saw. So I told Shanna I was ready to move forward with the adoption process. We moved ahead and Shanna got all our paperwork done - I just signed where she told me to.
Almost since the time I became a believer I have believed in the doctrine of adoption - God adopting us into his family, making us his children. I saw this as an opportunity to quit thinking about the gospel and do something about it. We are to be agents in bringing God's Kingdom to the world around us. By going to China and adopting a girl we know nothing about, we believe that we are fulfilling God's command "to be fruitful and multiply." Since God has not given us more biological children, we have taken a path that we believe will produce more spiritual children. By taking in Melina, we are taking in a child that may never have heard the gospel since she is coming from China. In my own words, these are not Shanna's, I believe that we are on a "rescue" mission to bring one of God's own children home. My prayer is that we would love and nurture Melina, show her Jesus and she would produce "spiritual" children of her own and extend the Kingdom of God.
1 comment:
As we prepare to leave for China next week it is moving to read the heart felt words of not only another parent, but of a believer -knowing God has led you to this moment, that is so much bigger even than we can put in words, and that our lives, each of ours is being so richly blessed in only a way that our Heavenly father could do. That we and our children and our children's children might be an extension of his love, mercy, and grace.
Post a Comment