It's been a while since I have had time or honestly the urge to sit down and blog, but here I am today.
Okay so just a a brief update on where I am in this crazy journey the Lord has me on. I am currently sitting by a pool with the sound of the ocean in the back ground. Since May 18 I have been in Panama City Beach, FL on the Summer Beach Project. What a treat it is to be able to spend this time not only at the beach but to be surrounded by students who are hungry to grow in their walks with Christ. It is tough though to uproot for five weeks for my job. It's non-stop when we are here. I honestly don't know how the staff with children go about keeping a schedule.
Also (since this is the year of many possibilities) I have found my self way outside of myself! I am officially enrolled in seminary. As week one in my class comes to an end I am quickly learning that this is going to be one of the most stretching seasons mentally for me. I am taking a class on properly interpreting the Word and yes it has been so so fun. Yet in the joy that comes from studying the Word and historical content of the Word my mind just may explode! Regardless I am super pumped for this journey and to see how the Lord is going to draw me closer to Him through knowledge.
So now here I am getting to adoption. This week on the SBP has been themed "Adoption". Over the past 3 years this word has become to mean a lot more to me. It carries a lot more weight than it once did. Once you can personally put a face to this word you come to a better understanding of it. Being a part of the struggle and praying for a child has allowed me to come to a better realization of God's love for His people.
Let's start with Reese...thats the only natural place to start because he has been the family's first tangible picture of adoption. This child (though all boy and wild as ever) has been one of the biggest blessings to my family. I honestly don't think everyone has come to this realization but soon enough they will. My aunt and uncle began a process that took 1.5-2 years to complete. I doubt any of us truly knew the commitment that was going to be required to call Reese our own. Countless court dates, home visits, and prayer times surrounded the official day when we could call Reese fully adopted, an heir to all that belongs to my uncle. Oh but we feel in love with this child long before the papers were signed! As a matter of fact this past mother's day was when Crystal finally received the birth certificate of her first born son. Reese, now 4, is something special. Though not ours by DNA, he is fully a part of the family. There is no giving him back (not that anyone would dare do such a thing). He is ours, he bears the family name, he is adopted! Just how "we" are adopted into the family of Christ. God is our Father and nothing can separate us from that love (Romans 3:38-39).
Now we are on to writing another story of adoption. My brother and sister-in-law have also began this process, but this is already having twist and turns of its own. Jeremy will be deploying for a year in July. So just recently they found out that adoption services have put there file on hold. We were hoping that all paperwork we be processed before Jeremy left so when he returned we would be ready to open our hearts to a little one. God has another plan and it's going to be so much better than ours. Just like each one of "our" stories with our Father. No one has that same adoption story but they all end in the same place... being lavished with love by a heavenly Father. This father loves us more deeply than we even know we desire.
It is crazy to me all that is done for adoption. The sweet pursuit for a child. The time and the commitment that is poured into the process is exhaustive. But all of this to call someone else's child your own. Think of how long God went after the Israelites. He continually went after them, "you will be my people and I will be your God". Or when Jesus left the 99 to go after the 1. He left it all to seek out and find the one that he wanted to bring home. And even the most evident example of his commitment to us, sending His one and only Son to the cross. The ultimate sacrifice that makes adoption possible. All of this done out of love. Love for His people. A love that is forever and unconditional. I am overwhelmed at the thoughts of this love that God has for us. Adoption is just another earthly example of how we can see God's love is action and what a blessing it is.
"In love, He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." Ephesians 1:4b-5
