Why in the World Would You?

We are relatively new to adoption.  In fact, we’ve only just begun our home study and recently started telling friends and family about an incredible journey God has placed us on.  For a little over a year now we’ve been part of a ministry that shares the gospel with imprisoned children (some of whom are orphans) in Uganda.  It’s been a wonderful year and during that time God placed a desire on our hearts to adopt a child (maybe more) from one of the prisons. Thankfully we’re in a community of families who have either adopted or are in the process of adopting, so we weren’t entirely shocked by some of the comments we started receiving after we announced our desire to adopt from Uganda.  Here are just a few we’ve received from well-intentioned friends and family after making our announcement:

“Why in the world would YOU want to do this?  YOU do enough already!”

“God has blessed YOU with such a beautiful family.  Why would YOU want to mess it up?”

“Why would YOU want to ‘muddy the waters’?”
“How are YOU going to afford putting 5 children through college?”

“YOU already have to pay for 4 weddings. How are YOU going to pay for another?”

“How can YOU love them all the same?”

“Where are YOU going to put all these kids?”

“YOU can’t handle the 4 YOU have.  How are YOU going to deal with MORE children?”

We apologize if it sounds a bit harsh but after listening to this all we want to say to our well-intentioned friends and family is “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”  Matt. 16:23.

Honestly, do you think we care one ounce about how we’re going to pay for a wedding 20 years from now?  Or what the sleeping arrangements might be in our house when our son or daughter arrives, or how this might impact the college fund for our children?  Please.

Nearly all of these comments are pragmatic and focused on how OUR life might be affected.  What about God?  Not once have we received a critical comment grounded in God’s Word!  Not once.

Or what about the life of the child God has called to our family?  What about his or her life? Should we allow them to continue living in prison and oppression so that our biological children have a nicer wedding or a better sorority experience at college?

Here are a few other comments (some of which we’ve actually received and some of which would be nice to hear).  Notice the difference from the statements above:

“I’m so excited.  I can’t wait to see how GOD works through all this!”

“What a beautiful picture of GOD’S grace.  May HE bless you as you walk in obedience to HIS call.”

“I’m praying for your family.”

“Praise GOD!”

“This will be a difficult journey but GOD will sustain you.”

“We want to walk alongside you in this.  Please let us know how we can help.”

“What an incredible picture of the Gospel!”

We realize there are a number of issues to consider – financial, medical, social, etc…  Unexpected things will happen and we can’t plan for all of them, nor do we feel we need to.  We know adoption will be tough.  We’re not kidding ourselves.  But God didn’t call us to a simple life of leisure and pleasure.  He calls us to a life of sacrifice where there will be suffering, persecution and reviling.  A place where we rely on Him for everything.

And we trust and know in the deepest part of our heart that God will equip us.  We have been “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Eph. 2:10.  All we have to do is walk in them. He has already paved the way.  We’re just walking down a road He’s cleared, graded, and prepared from the foundation of time.

So why in the world would we do this?  The answer is simple.  Our hearts desire to honor and serve God through adoption.  There’s no other explanation.  It may not be pragmatic or make sense, but we feel this is how God will be exalted in our life and we will not turn to the left or right no matter what strained logic this world uses or how unconventional it may seem.

To us there’s only one comment that matters:  “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Guest: Scott