So if you follow this blog you may remember that about a month and a half ago I drug out the "ole soapbox", climbed up on it and preached (wrote) to all who would listen (read:)!
It is not something I do often - I think it may be the only the second time in the history of this blog I have ever addressed anything other than my own family's journey - but I decided that maybe it is something I (and many other Christians?) aren't doing enough. I think I am too quiet about my faith and my God and what I know to be truth because the Bible says it is. It is the truth as far as I can understand it and I really want to shout it out from this platform.
The "world" has no issue giving us all it's opinion. I think largely because if you do not read, know and believe in the word of God then your own opinion and that of others is really the only thing you have to go on. I have heard and seen so many people perpetuating statements and beliefs via social media, blogs and newsprint regarding adoption that I believe are truly wrong and misleading. In these opinions one thing is commonly shared and it is that adoption causes so many fall outs and causalities. Most often that it is a devastating event for birth moms and the children for whom an adoption plan is made and that they will most definitely have "issue" with being adopted as adults. (I am not saying that any of this never applies, but it is certainly not a given) And they typically go on to imply (or boldly state) that allowing people to believe God's plan had anything to do with our or anyone else's adoption is dangerous and reckless to say the least. Or at least that it is insensitive for us to discuss it out loud because not everyones adoption ends or starts well and therefore it is best to just not discuss it - at least not details - lest we offend or hurt anyone now or in the future.
I just couldn't disagree more and I really wanted to get this out there. Maybe there is someone who needs this right now?
Listen, Moses was adopted - MOSES! Do you think for one second that God didn't know Moses would be adopted and that it would be by the Pharaoh's daughter and the leader of a nation that would enslave his people, an entirely different culture from an entirely different nation, for years? Do you think the unfortunate circumstances of Jochebed having to give up her child were not used for good? Moses went on to save an entire nation of people! God did not cause the series of events that led to the tragic situations to follow, but nor was he surprised by them and he used them for the Kingdom. Can you imagine if followers of Christ had stayed quiet about Moses' adoption or the circumstances that surrounded it? What if people decided there had been too much pain for his birth mother or too much sadness in the fact that a nation of sons were ordered to die by an evil man and that we shouldn't talk about it. Or just leave out details so that it is more pleasant and politically correct? So as to not be insensitive to his mother, his past or his people or the nation he came from. That somehow talking about his life and adoption story dilutes the very real emotions that certainly he and others involved must have gone through. I really don't think that it does.
Look, if you are a private person and do want to choose to tell any details of your life to anyone that is completely your choice - you are not a subject in the Bible. And I am not here to judge those who aren't as vocal as I may be. But why are those of us who want to share told we shouldn't or at least that we should "really think about" what we say or lay claim to? God has not instructed me to be quiet, but to boldly speak of him moving in our lives.
If you aren't a Christian and do not know God's word then I can understand that you may not understand why adoption is spoken about so freely and openly in the bible and why I believe that as a Christian it is also my obligation to shine a light on this concept as God created it. But for those of us who know the word I can not understand the desire for silence or keeping it so hushed. It can be our very endorsement of such a union that inspires others to look into how they can get in on it. Sharing how God has worked in your life can inspire and influence others - maybe the very people God gave you for an audience just the way he wanted it. We shouldn't be afraid to talk about how beautiful, scary, sad, rewarding and life changing the adoption process may be!
I don't think there is any room for misunderstanding God's view of adoption if you read His word. If Moses' story isn't convincing to you maybe Esther resonates more? Esther's parents died - we don't know how, but it is tragic none the less. We are told that her cousin "brings her up" so we would assume she must have been young when she lost her parents. God did not cause that tragic loss and it was not something shameful for Esther or to make us feel pity or sadness for this orphan who suffered a great loss early in her young life. What the Bible concentrates on, however, is the fact that Esther was used for mighty things in the Kingdom - things much bigger than herself. And that the fact that she was adopted did not define who she was or wasn't, but I believe her story was included to help us see that no matter what your start in life is that God has a plan for you and it is for good. God knew the days of her life before she was formed (Psalm 139:15) - the good and the bad - and He knew exactly what she would accomplish for so many people. Esther was a Jewish girl in a foreign land (Persia) where not only was she an outsider, but she was in danger of being killed along with the rest of her people. What she had gone through in her life was used to make her who she was and that was exactly the person she needed to be. She was right where she was supposed to be and God used her and her faithfulness to accomplish mighty things. He did not want this to be kept quite or not talked about, but rather to be used boldly for all of His children to read and know.
God's words are loud and clear that he knows all of our days....children that are adopted didn't somehow get overlooked in the scripture and to be excluded. They aren't somehow poor children that God didn't love as much. God CREATED adoption. It is a beautiful outcome for what can sometimes be a difficult (and yes loss filled) scenario. This is a broken and fallen world, no doubt. To spread the word that adoption is anything but beautiful breaks my heart! Entire families are build because of adoption. There is and will be hurt associated with the circumstances surrounding many types of adoption for possibly all parties involved. That is part of living in this world. We can not shrink from adoption or advocacy for it because it may hurt someones feelings or because the world talks about it differently than God does. We are supposed to look, act and think differently than "the world". We know God's word and have a commission to share that with the world. It is a light to shine for God and not to be hidden away. God's word is called the "Good News" and we should not forget that!
As Christians we know that our children are not really our children anyway! Whether, biological or otherwise, we are ALL God's children - even if you don't know or believe that you are still His child. He does not require us to believe in Him for Him to believe in us. If we are teaching the children that God has entrusted to us that we are all His and that God himself said that we are all to be adopted into the Kingdom - we are all heirs - then imagine how little it really matters in who they are and what they can be based on who gave birth to them. I am not trying to diminish the relationship you have with your children or that a birth mom has in a child's life, but I am trying to point out how little it matters to our Creator. You are who you are to Him from before you were even formed. If anyone feels they are somehow less than because of adoption or that it defines who they are in anyway then just imagine the how freeing it would be to learn that in the Creator's eyes we are all adopted into the ultimate family! Our Father has a "big big house" (in the immortal words of Audio Adrenaline:) and we will all be adopted into it together! In the end all of us are in the same family anyway. Regardless of nation, location, last name,etc. Thank you, Lord!
I am and will take that stand for my children, their birth mothers (known and unknown) and my family. I Thank you God for your redeeming plan for each of the children you have entrusted to me, adopted or otherwise! Okay, stepping off my soap box.....for now!
"Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:15
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
"My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:15-16
"But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased "Galatians 1:15
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosperyou and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2
" Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18
"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." Isaiah 1:17
