I am a mama. It’s one of my favorite roles. I have three strong and healthy teenagers and I’ve loved them since the minute I found out I was carrying each of them.
Adoption is not a part of my story. My parents are my natural parents. My kids are my natural kids. I don’t know what it’s like to want a baby and not be able to have one.
But I’ve watched several close friends and family members go through the pain of infertility. Month after month craving a baby, and month after month being denied that joy. Or worse – getting pregnant and having miscarriage after miscarriage after miscarriage, like my sweet Aunt.
Then after years of pain, I watched them decide to adopt…first a 6-month-old baby boy and then two of the sweetest girls from Russia. I watched the process they went through, the painstaking process of the home visits and the waiting and the preparing and everything that goes with it. Going to the courthouse and signing the papers and making it official. Not to mention the expense of it….Huge!
But they WANTED that baby. They WANTED those girls. Wanted. Desired. Craved.
And then watching the pure joy and bliss that flooded their hearts and home and life when they became parents was priceless.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. (Ephesians 1:5 NLT)
God didn’t just want robots to follow Him. He didn’t just want a people to lead. He wanted a family. He wanted kids.
I read this verse this morning, and my heart just exploded with love. With His love for me.
He looked at you and me and decided to adopt us. To bring us into His family. To make it official and become our Father.
He WANTED us.
Our adoption gave Him great PLEASURE.
He went through a painstaking process to adopt us. He “signed the papers” in the blood of His son and made it official.
He wanted you and desired you and craved you for years. And you fill His heart with joy. With bliss. With pleasure.
Take a minute and let that sink in. Just like my kids are the joy of my heart, you are the joy of His. Knowing you are His fills Him with pleasure.
Say this out loud:
I am His and He is mine.
Rest in that thought today. Soak in it. Let it saturate you like the rain and sink into every pore of your being.
You are loved.