I have some really amazing friends…lots of them. But there are two who have been on mind lately. Actually it’s four — two couples. Amazing, caring, loving, giving, self-sacrificing couples who have chosen to undertake a huge responsibility. Both of these couples have become, what we like to call these days, empty nesters. They have raised their families. Their children are living proof that these two couples have spent the last 20+ years raising their children to love God and to love their fellow man and are proving themselves to be productive citizens.
Most people when they hit this stage of life look forward to less responsibility, more time to travel, more time to spend on pursuing hobbies, or even more time to put into their work so they can increase their ease when they eventually retire. Not these friends of mine. They could have done all these things but instead they looked for a way to bless someone else. They wanted to use their talents to serve God in ways that would require more responsibility, less time for travel and put a strain on their finances. They chose to adopt a child. Not just one child. One couple has chosen to adopt two teenagers. The other couple is adopting four siblings.
As I have followed their journey towards bringing these precious children home to a loving family, I have seen some of the difficulties they have had to overcome — finances, paperwork, preparing their home for new family members, and, although they haven’t mentioned it much, I would imagine a little bit of anxiousness on just how this is going to work out. Both of these families are at the stage where the children are legally theirs. All that awaits is for them to go pick them up. That in itself is quite an event seeing as the children are overseas. The children are theirs. The children are many, many miles away. Mom and Dad are readying themselves to pick them up and bring them home. Actually, as I type this, one of the couples is there already and may even have their children with them.
These children know that they have parents in a far country who love them and who are preparing a place for them and who can’t wait to bring them home. With our amazing technology we have so readily available to us, the parents and the children have been able to regularly talk via the internet. They have spent time getting to know each other through these “visits”. The parents look forward to the calls and I know hang on every word their adopted children have to say. The day is coming when the children who have already been adopted will be physically with their new families and have all the blessings that go with that beautiful new relationship.
All this reminds me of my relationship with my Father. I am an adopted child of God. I am eagerly awaiting the day that He will return to take me home. I know that on that day everything will be different. All will be glorious. I will be free from any of the hardships and worries I face in this life. In the meantime, I am continually being blessed with comfort from above. I am even given the “technology” with which to talk to my Father. I can pray to Him and He is always ready to listen to every word I have to say. He wants me to ask Him for help. He wants me to feel close to Him. I am an adopted child of God but as Romans 8:23 says, I am “eagerly waiting for the adoption”. The day when as His child I will be with Him in His home He has prepared for me. What a glorious day that will be.
That’s amazing! Wonderful news.