Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Thank You, Lifesong!





I'm a Christian.  That means that I was once orphaned, but now, through faith alone in Jesus' atoning sacrifice for my sins that separated me from God, God has adopted me into His eternal family.  Now, He'll never leave or forsake me.   And what's more, even though I'll never be able to offer him any good on my own apart from Him, He has delighted to have made me His child.  And even more, He is always working for my good!  The bounties of blessings that entail the Christian life are overwhelming, especially when I did nothing to deserve such a fulfilling life in Christ.  I should have paid the price for my sins, but God paid that price instead. And what an expensive price it cost God to make me His child!  God says all over the Bible that the cost of Him adopting His children was incomparably higher than anything any person could pay and was the only sufficient sacrifice to atone for sin, yet He considered such cost as a worthy one in order to bring people into saving faith through Christ (John 3:16). 

Similarly, the reward of bringing a formerly parentless child into our family tremendously outweighs any finances required in that process.  Many people have asked Paul and me about the expenses related to international adoption.  The answer is yes, the means to bring our child home is extremely costly, requiring thousands of dollars.  As a way to provide for adopting families, God has established grant organizations to enable Christian families to bring children home in a faster, less financially-constraining way! 

 So over the past few months, we've applied to some of these grants and funds, and we are so excited that Lifesong for Orphans has offered us a $3,000 matching grant.  In other words, if we raise $3,000 over the next 7 weeks, then Lifesong will match that $3000, allowing us to receive a total of $6,000 towards our adoption (that's over 1/3 of the total estimated expenses!).  We are excited to see how God will provide to match this grant, and it's no surprise to us that our church family has already asked to host a bake sale on Father's Day with hopes of coming alongside Lifesong.


Here is Lifesong's mission for those whose curiosity has been sparked by this life-changing organization.  And as I was perusing the website, I happened to find this video of our good friends, the Philpots, sharing how God has used Lifesong in their lives. 


We are encouraged at how God keeps providing for us in this adoption process.  Each step of this journey has been a means of our sanctification, and we trust that we will bring our child home in His perfect timing.



Thursday, May 5, 2011

A Good Read for Us Girls!


Practical Theology for Women comes my way through Google Reader, and I thought that her post today was worth sharing.  Though I'm not convinced that all singleness is a result of the fall, I agree with her overall perspective on growing in "gospel grace," and I think this is an excellent word for all Christian women!   

Practical Theology for Women

"I'm reposting my thoughts from last year's Mother's Day, mostly because I needed to reread it myself.

Mother's Day is a tricky holiday. Like any holiday, it is sweet for some and bitter for others. For some, it’s both. I remember feeling on the outside looking in on Mother’s Day, first as a single woman and then after I miscarried our first. Our church had an entrance near the nursery called the Family Entrance. Could I use it? Were we a family? I finally just used it regardless, almost as an act of defiance. Now as the mother of a 4 and 6 year old, I can deeply appreciate someone setting aside parking near an entrance that kept me from having to walk my toddlers across a busy intersection. But at the time I was dealing with emotions that weren’t swayed by practical realities. I just wanted to be a mom. And that sign at the church entrance reminded me I wasn’t.

It is an age-old conundrum in humanity in general and Christianity in particular. How do you honor someone who has something good that you want too? How do you applaud the sacrifices of one without minimizing the suffering of the other? I don’t know exactly, but I do think there is an over arching principle that is helpful.

Motherhood is not the greatest good for the Christian woman. Whether you are a mom or not, don’t get caught up in sentimentalism that sets it up as some saintly role. The greatest good is being conformed to the image of Christ. Now, motherhood is certainly one of God’s primary tools in His arsenal for this purpose for women. But it is not the end itself. Being a mom doesn’t make you saintly. Believe me. Being a mom exposes all the ways you are a sinner, not a saint. Not being a mom and wanting to be one does too. We may long to get pregnant, looking at motherhood from afar. God sanctifies us through that longing. We may lose a pregnancy or a child, and mourn the loss of our motherhood. God conforms us to Christ through that as well. We may have a brood of children of various ages, and heaven knows God roots sin out of our hearts that way. It’s all about THE greatest good, being conformed to the image of Christ – reclaiming the image of God that He created us to bear through gospel grace. And God uses both the presence and the absence of children in the lives of His daughters as a primary tool of conforming us to Christ.

Single woman watching your biological clock tick away, I encourage you to look today at your longings through the lens of the
gospel. You don’t have to deny your longing or talk yourself into a happy attitude for all the good things you can do without kids. It’s OK to mourn the loss. God said children are a blessing. But after the fall, we do not all get to experience that blessing. The gospel makes up the difference. While you are disappointed in deep ways and that disappointment is real, you will one day sit with Jesus in heaven profoundly content with His work in you through this disappointment. In heaven, you will have no longing for something you missed. You will not be disappointed. May confidence in that hope sustain you.

Married woman experiencing infertility, I encourage you with similar words. People can be callous with their words, especially in the church. But believe in confidence that God in this very moment loves you with a deep love. You may feel estranged from Him, knowing that He has the power to give you that sweet infant that He has given so many around you. It seems like He is dangling a desire in front of you, teasing you with it. But understand that unfulfilled desire is a tool He uses to give you even better things – things of Himself that you cannot know in easy ways. Believe in confidence that this time of waiting is not just a holding pattern with no discernible value, but it too is a blessing, albeit in disguise, as it increases your strength to run and not grow weary and to walk and not to faint. Wait on the Lord, dear sister, in confidence.

And mom who fails her children regularly (because that’s everyone else), preach the gospel to yourself this day. If you have any grasp on your reality, you are likely painfully aware of every failure you’ve made with your children. And maybe you are fatigued by the fears of future failure as well. It’s okay that your children expose your own sin to yourself. In fact, it’s the mom who doesn’t seem daily aware of her failures that most concerns me. Christ has made the way for you to be at peace. If you sinned against your kids, ask their forgiveness. If you are kicking yourself for your failures, preach God’s grace to yourself. Don’t learn to live with your sin – don’t embrace it with the attitude “that’s just how I am.” But don’t deny it either. Be honest about it. You sinned. You confess. God forgives. You get up and walk forward in confidence. It’s called gospel grace, and THAT is the legacy to leave your children."


[All other posts can be read on her blog.]